


0MN1

by NiMHGuys



Category: NCIS
Genre: Action/Adventure, M/M, Organized Crime, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:47:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 191,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22926658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiMHGuys/pseuds/NiMHGuys
Summary: McGee's love life gets thrown off its course when the team stumbles into an investigation with an agent from the team's past. As McGee struggles to find balance, the shadowy cybergroup known as OMNI spreads its influence across the criminal underworld with lethal precision and begins targeting one of the team's own, putting them all in danger. [Warnings for full slash] [Tim M./OMC] (In-Progress)
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Timothy McGee, Timothy McGee/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

Tim exhaustedly pushed through the door to his apartment. The softest of glows from the sunrise drifted through the window and lit the space just enough so he could see. It would normally mean it was time for him to go to work, but today it meant he’d been up for nearly 24-hours straight. Tim’s arms and legs ached as he trudged into the kitchen, and head spun from thinking too much. He quickly snatched a pair of pain-relieving tablets from the cabinet, filled a glass with water and downed the pills. He held the half-full glass of cold water against his head, hoping it would somehow clear his mind and help him sort out this mess.

_‘How could I have let this happen?’_ He thought to himself. _‘And so fast? I could never even manage one relationship, much less two.’_

Tony’s sarcastic voice echoed in his head, _‘Shoulda left relationships to me, McDead.’_

“I wasn’t-” Tim sighed disgustedly to himself but was quickly cut off by Ziva’s matter-of-fact voice also from within,

_‘You’re not in two relationships, you’re just in love with two people and not being honest about it.’_

Tony’s voice replied, _‘I think that’s almost worse.’_

“Shut up, both of you,” Tim hissed through gritted teeth before leaving the kitchen.

Tim stripped off his work clothes as he reached the bedroom, then turned on the ceiling fan and lowered the blinds on the window for maximum darkness. He decided to forego his usual ritual of a post-work shower and brushing his teeth because his mind just couldn’t stop racing with indecision and confusion.

Timothy McGee was never one to break his ritual, something for which his colleague, Tony DiNozzo, frequently teased him. Whether it was the quirky way he would blow on his coffee before every sip, the exact number of brushes for each of his teeth, or the way he started up his computer every morning at home or work, Tim always did it with perfect and almost robotic repetition. That was all before _he_ came into Tim’s life.

Tim dropped himself onto his bed, burying his head under a pillow and holding it over his ears as if it would make the thoughts stop. A month ago when _he_ showed up, Tim’s heart slowly twisted like a pretzel. _He_ picked Tim up and cut through his daydreams with something real. Tim thought he already had something real, and it led to what felt like a lifetime of unrequited yearning.

_‘No,’_ he reminded himself. _‘It wasn’t like that. We’re fine just the way we are together.’_ Those words usually convinced him and let him survive to the next day of the same routine. Something good would happen, a moment where he felt like he was in a perfect relationship all along. Then everything would become cold and distant, and Tim would be left feeling alone again. But ever since _he_ came along, Tim started to remember what it was like to be wanted and that he was crazy for thinking that’s what he had before.

Tim sighed and rolled over, looking up at the ceiling fan whirling cool air around his body. He watched it as it hypnotically spun, slowly seeming to drown out the noise in his head.

He felt dazed, and as his eyes adjusted to the dark they found a small pinpoint of light reflecting from the fan down at him. His eyelids felt heavy like the rest of his body. His arms rested limply beside him as the air rippled across his skin. He felt warmth radiate from beneath him, and a stubbly chin rose from his pillow up to the back of his neck while hot, gentle lips nipped at the skin. Soft, salt-and-pepper hair brushed across Tim’s neck. Tim gasped quietly as hands gently traced their way around his hips from underneath him. The skin of the man’s hands felt smooth yet dry like sanded wood, and tiny flames sparked up just behind the fingers as they ran over Tim’s skin. The heat and the light touches of the lips and hands sent jolts down to Tim’s cock, which responded by twitching and filling rapidly.

The man breathed into his ear with a deep and familiar voice, _“Tim…”_

The heat from the breath made Tim sharply breathe in, and as he did the smell of whiskey and sawdust filled his nostrils. He groaned softly and leaned his head back against the neck and chest that rose from the bed beneath him. The fiery heat from the body appearing underneath him was starting to make Tim sweat. He felt the torso connect against his back, firmly supporting and lifting him upward. Tim ran his hands along the arms caressing him. Unlike the hands touching him, the arms and the rest of the body felt soft and smooth like the skin of a man he had seen so often. He felt the man’s groin appear under his buttocks, and the hard shaft he felt made his own ache with stiffness. Tim slowly drifted his hands downward, one to try to ease his steel cock’s pressure and the other to feel the man’s thickness pressing between his cheeks. Powerful thighs slowly pushed up Tim’s legs, and Tim felt his fingers and the other man’s silky-smooth head tease his quivering entrance.

_“Please,”_ Tim whimpered.

The man growled in a low voice that was too familiar, _“I’ve got you, Tim,”_ and pressed the head of his cock into Tim’s moistening hole.

Tim moaned loudly with pleasure. He stroked himself and hungrily enveloped the invading member. The man continued into Tim until he pressed himself all the way inside him, leaving their bodies grappled tightly together in mid-air as the bed was long-forgotten.

Tim suddenly felt cool air waft over his body in a large wave. He peeked his eyes open to look up at the fan which now seemed to be miles away. The light above him was blocked by the silhouette of a man with wings and a tail drifting down towards him. With each slow flap of the man’s wings, Tim felt more cool air blow across his heated body. As he drew closer, McGee could see the feathered wings were black and shone like leather, and the thin, black tail twirled freely in the air. Against the light Tim couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could see that he was also naked and recognized the bare chest. As the man lowered down to Tim he parted his own legs to slide gently down on top of Tim’s navel. His skin was cool to the touch and smooth as leather, and his hands brought refreshing cold to Tim’s body as they traveled up his chest. Tim sighed with relief he didn’t know he needed and shut his eyes again. His skin raised with goosebumps and his nipples hardened in the cold air. The man reached down and kissed Tim gently on the lips. The lips tasted like cold, sweet rainwater, and Tim kissed back thirstily.

The kiss parted softly, and the second man whispered with a smooth, gentle voice, _“I’m all yours, Tim.”_ His cold breath and familiar whisper sent cool shivers down Tim’s spine that battled the flames from the first man’s chest against Tim’s back. He eased himself back against Tim’s pre-cum-slicked cock and gently inched it inside him.

Tim threw his head back in ecstasy as the sensations ripped control of his body away from him. The men above and below him raised and lowered themselves in synchronous rhythm. They peppered him with blazing hot and icy cold kisses. The man on top kissed him again on the lips and trailed off to his neck. Tim turned his head as the man underneath pressed his warm lips across Tim’s cheek. He reached further for the first man’s kiss with his lips but couldn’t seem to reach. Their rhythm intensified. Tim sweat with the heat but it quickly turned cold across his skin.

His body was being ripped apart by the hot and cold coursing through his veins. Pleasure reverberated through him, unfocused and unbridled, threatening to break him in half. He writhed between the bodies as they continued kneading and thrusting into him. The first man sank a fiery bite into Tim’s neck, causing him to gasp. His arms held him safely and securely, making him never want to leave. The cool lips found his again and the man’s tongue danced with Tim’s. The second man continued his kisses down the other side of Tim’s neck, radiating refreshing cold down his chest. As he flapped his wings, Tim felt cool air around him and a feeling of soaring freely as he was pulled upward against the warm arms that held him down. Tim again reached for the first man’s lips, wanting to taste the fire and whiskey on his tongue. Again the man would not complete the kiss but kept teasing him by keeping his lips near Tim’s ear. Tim felt the pressure building in his groin, the bucking power pushing and pulling his body intensified, and he heaved lewd moans into the darkness surrounding him. The two men whispered together, _“Tim…”_

_“Cum for me,”_ the first man ordered firmly.

_“Cum with me,”_ the second man asked gently.

The sensual voices of his lovers threw his body into overdrive, and his orgasm tore through him. His legs wrenched themselves upward, his fists clenched, and he screamed louder than he ever would have by himself as his first volley of cum sprayed up his chest and onto his face. He yelped loudly with each of the next jets as they coated his torso with volcanic heat followed by a relaxing cold as the liquid cooled. He panted as the spasms subsided and he looked around. He was alone in his bed, his damp hair clung to his forehead and his breaths were fast and deep. He was covered in sweat and pools of his own ejaculate but barely noticed after the overload of all of his nerves. He kept still as he regained his composure, remembering the last time this dream had woken him up to the same mess.

_‘I can’t keep doing this,’_ he thought to himself. _‘I have to choose.’_

He gingerly rose from the bed and went into the bathroom to begin a long and thoughtful shower.


	2. Chapter 1

[ ](https://ibb.co/GVfK2pV)

0MN1 – ACT I

NCIS

_One Month Earlier…_

Timothy McGee straightened out the white scarf he’d chosen with the black coat for his cover outfit and re-checked his appearance in a hand-held mirror. The inside of the limousine they rode in was dimly lit, but there was just enough light for him, Ziva David, Abby Sciuto, and Michelle Lee to prepare themselves for their assignment. Ziva loaded her compact pistol and slipped it into a hidden pocket in the lining of her fashionable coat, Michelle holstered her Sig in her uncomfortably high garter to be covered by her rather short mini skirt, and Abby nestled a small can of pepper spray into the bra under her form-fitting dress. McGee popped up the collar of his overcoat and practiced his best smug smile to help portray his celebrity status for their entry into One Club.

Their case involved a dead sailor who was last seen with an escort, Lisa Delgado. They tracked her to a nightclub called One Club, an exclusive hotspot for celebrities. With the success of McGee’s book, _Deep Six,_ Gibbs devised a plan for McGee’s entry under his pen name, Thom E. Gemcity, so they could find Delgado for questioning. The club was run by a man named Scott Pell, who was notorious for his underworld dealings and for his security.

Abby reviewed her makeup job in her own mirror before asking, “You think Metro cops tried wearing outfits like these to get into the club?”

Ziva snorted. “It wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t remember the last time I wore this little in public. How’s the celebrity look coming, McGee?”

“It’s coming along,” he replied, checking his reflection. “I’m trying to think of things that make me smile, and so far the best one is when I imagine the look on Tony’s face when he sees us on that security camera.”

_“You know I can hear you, right?”_ Tony buzzed in his earpiece.

McGee’s smirk broadened. “Yup, and it helps.” He rarely got to one-up Tony on missions, so he was milking this one for all he could.

The limo came to a halt in front of the club. A few paparazzi were lined up outside the entrance taking pictures of anyone they saw in case they might be famous. The door opened and Ziva slid out first, garnering camera flashes and encouraging comments as she posed. Abby exited next followed by Michelle and then McGee. McGee flashed his smile and stood close to Abby and Ziva as the cameras clicked. Ziva and Abby looped their arms around McGee’s and they started forward.

_“McGee,”_ Gibbs’ stern voice hummed in his ear, _“if Delgado’s inside, you get her out quietly.”_

McGee whispered, “How?” He tried to move his mouth as little as possible to not garner suspicion in front of the cameras.

_“Well she’s a hooker, Tim. Use your imagination.”_

McGee’s smile faltered for a moment as he tried to imagine himself seducing an escort. He didn’t want to disappoint Gibbs, but he could barely speak to women for a basic date, much less speak to a prostitute for an arrangement. They continued forward with Michelle dragging behind minutely.

“Lee,” Ziva quietly hissed. “Can you please pretend you want to be here with us?”

“I’m trying,” she whimpered through gritted teeth and a fake smile. “P.S. I don’t know where _your_ Sig is, but I’m having trouble walking.”

Abby smiled, truly enjoying the situation and the attention. Offering her arm, she whispered, “Snuggle up, Lee. It’s fun!”

The guard recognized McGee as his pseudonym, Thom E. Gemcity, and allowed them into the club. The slow, repetitive thump of the club music filled their ears as they passed through the door. The club glowed with dark blue light from the walls and square columns while spotlights and strobe lights flashed and moved with the music. The rectangular space was large and open with grated metal stairs leading up to catwalks on the second floor. The sides of the first floor were lined with private booths that were either open and available or occupied and hidden behind one-way mirrors. The center of the floor was occupied by a stage that could be seen from both upstairs and down. A large pole ran from ceiling down to the stage where a performer in a very small bikini danced her routine. Stretched across a wide side of the room was a large bar where many patrons stood while waiting for their drinks before filtering down to the scattered tables or upstairs to the catwalks. In each corner, lighting and speaker rigs rose up above the crowd.

Ziva’s eyes scanned the club for any sign of Delgado, but found nothing. “We’ll have our best chance of seeing her from the catwalks,” she nearly shouted into McGee’s ear over the din of the music.

“Agreed, but we should get drinks first to blend in,” he replied.

With their arms still linked together, they strutted over to the bar to order drinks. As they gave their orders to the bartender, the music slowed to a slow but strong beat and the ambient light changed from blue to deep red. They turned to look at the stage and saw a man sitting in a chair on stage wearing white button-down shirt and tight black jeans. His black hair was short and cropped, his jaw was gently rounded under a short stubble covering his chin, and while his frame seemed a bit shorter than average his lightly tanned body seemed to be well-built underneath his clothing. From the back of the stage came a woman in black, seductive lingerie and a thin, black sheer robe that billowed behind her as she walked, showcasing her pale skin. Her blonde hair fell in waves down to her shoulders and her large heels clicked with each step. McGee generally wasn’t interested in pole-dances or strippers, but he was curious to see what a two-person show would look like.

As the woman slowly began sliding her hands down the man’s chest from behind, the man was looking out into the crowd. McGee turned back to view the show after getting his drink when his eyes locked with the male dancer’s. Suddenly everything froze. The crowd instantly vanished and the music had gone with it. In that moment, the man’s blue eyes reflected the spotlight’s glow as they drew McGee in. McGee was unaware that he was holding his drink halfway to his face and ignoring it while he lost himself in the other man’s gaze. The stare was intense but inviting. Even from the distance the man’s eyes showed desire, warmth, yet surprise. McGee had an idea of what lust or objectification he expected to see in the eyes of a hooker or an escort, but this was something else entirely that he wasn’t sure how to interpret. His heart seemed to stop beating and was instead reaching for the man on stage. He felt like he was right up close looking into those eyes, not halfway across a crowded club. He almost felt the stubble of the man’s jaw, almost felt the warmth of the man’s skin, and almost thought he heard the man say “Hello” from his eyes directly into McGee’s mind.

As if in slow motion, McGee saw the woman’s claw-like hand rest on top of the man’s head and wrench it backward, unknowingly breaking their eye contact and resuming the routine. The thunder of the bass shocked McGee back into the crowd standing by the bar. McGee’s eyes quickly tried to reconnect with the dancer’s but the crowd had returned and the music’s bass blared, shaking him from the moment. He blinked and quickly looked to see if the others were looking at him, but Abby and Lee were busy looking at the stage while Ziva was still looking around for Delgado.

McGee was surprised at himself and his reaction. While he had attractions to men in the past, he never felt that strong of a spark towards anyone on first sight. Well, except maybe one. McGee remembered the first day he was yelled at by that man in Norfolk. He felt a similar spark of attraction to the older man, but it was heavily overshadowed by fear of the man’s reputation. McGee made excuses to keep working with him until he finally was allowed on the NCIS team with him. McGee knew it was against Gibbs’ own rules to date a coworker, but McGee was happy to just be around him and loved getting things done right for him. This new man, however, was completely out of the blue. McGee knew nothing about him yet something in those eyes stuck with him – something he couldn’t shake off, something he didn’t want to.

He shook his head to regain his composure and thought to himself, _‘He’s probably a hooker like Delgado, anyway.’_ His stomach churned at the negative thought, but he dismissed it and returned to thoughts of work. He then leaned over to Ziva and asked, “Any sign of her?”

“Still nothing, let’s go upstairs.”

Ziva led the way, but when McGee motioned to Abby to follow she didn’t move. Abby kept her focus on the stage not with a look of fascination but rather analysis.

He gently nudged her with his arm. “Abby?”

She raised her finger to silence him, then after another moment she shook her head. “I thought… nevermind.”

“Come on, we gotta find Delgado. Blend in.” He offered her his arm, which she took, and Lee joined him on his other side before they all walked upstairs.

The show continued on the center stage as they walked. The dancers’ movements were timed to the loud beats of the music and seemed to depict a rough love scene. They writhed with the music, both still clothed but giving each other rough grasps, teasing kisses and even a loud slap across the man’s face. McGee caught himself hoping to get the man’s attention again, then dismissed the feeling with a slight pang of disappointment when he remembered where they were and who the man probably was. The woman was now straddling his lap and leaning back, allowing the audience a view of her barely-covered cleavage. Looking down from the catwalk, McGee tried to focus on finding Delgado but inevitably ended up looking through the man’s now-unbuttoned shirt at his sculpted chest. Abby’s gaze was also fixed on the show. She held a concentrated frown on her face.

McGee nudged her again, whispering, “What is it? Do you see her?”

She shook her head silently.

_“Enjoying yourself, Mister Gemcity?”_ Tony jeered in his ear.

“No sign of her yet. Still looking.”

Lee slipped discreetly from Abby’s side over between McGee and Ziva with a very uncomfortable look on her face. “I’m starting to feel like an _hors d’oeuvre_ from the looks I’m getting. Can we please move somewhere a bit less… occupied?”

Ziva leaned in and whispered, “Deal with it. This is our best view. McGee, put your arm around her and show them she’s with us.”

McGee quickly moved his arm behind Lee down to her waist and cast a glare to his left at a couple of men who were eyeing her. When he looked back at the stage, the man had the woman pinned against the stripper pole. His pants were unbuttoned but they stayed in place on his hips. She hooked her legs around his waist and with both hands she tore the man’s shirt down his back. As the shirt was removed, McGee could see a large, black tattoo of a griffin with its large wings stretched down the man’s back and its tail winding down and disappearing below his beltline.

Abby gasped, “It _IS_ him!”

“Wait, you know him?” McGee asked with surprise. “How?”

“Not here. Come on, we gotta talk to him. If he’s here he may know where Delgado is or may even be looking for her.” She grabbed his arm and led him towards the stairs.

“Wait- Abby who is he?”

“Not here,” she repeated.

They followed her down the stairs until they got close to the stage. The performance reached its peak with the two half-clothed performers making exaggerated thrusts while being lit by rapidly flashing strobe lights. The music suddenly stopped and the stage lights went dark, then the spotlight lit the pair up again as they posed somewhat dramatically for the audience. They stood with woman up against the man with her back to the audience, her hand on his chest, her one leg still hooked on his waist, and her head turned so she could look out at the crowd. He held a stern look on his face and looked around without moving his head. When his eyes landed on Abby, his stern look broke into a small smirk. His eyes moved just to her right where McGee was standing, and they locked gazes again. The man visibly fought a smile, then quickly broke their contact again when the pair turned to leave the stage.

McGee leaned over to Abby and whispered, “Who is he?”

She quietly muttered, “I can’t say because he’s working. Just wait here, he’ll find us.”

They waited near the stage while the next act began. Another woman came out from the back of the stage and immediately began working her way up the pole. After about five minutes of looking around, McGee and Abby finally spotted the man coming out of a door marked “Employees Only.” He had on a new white shirt with its sleeves rolled up and a black vest. He made a gesture with his hand that McGee didn’t recognize, but Abby nodded towards him and the man slowly began walking through the club towards them.

“Don’t forget, we’re patrons,” Abby reminded the group.

The man finally reached them and looked seductively at each agent. Turning to Abby he finally asked, “Hey there, you guys looking for a private dance?” His voice was rich and smooth, but his tone was conspicuous and sarcastic as if he knew the answer.

Abby smiled and replied, “Yes we would...” she turned to Tim trying to give him a hint with her eyes, “… wouldn’t we?”

“Uh… erm… yeah, sure. Let’s go,” McGee stammered, still not sure what was going on and feeling nervous at seeing the man up close. McGee felt the same spark he felt earlier and his heart couldn’t find a steady beat.

The man was slightly shorter than McGee but just taller than Lee. He didn’t look like the standard bachelorette party stripper, but his shorter frame made him look more agile and less bulky than the stereotype.

The man’s eyes lingered on McGee’s a bit longer before he looked back at Abby. “Good. Let’s get _Agent Mouse_ over there-” he gestured to Lee “-out of the snake pit.”

They followed him to one of the private booths on the side of the club. The dark red-colored booth had room for the four of them to sit around a glass table for their drinks with room between them and the door for the dancer. He let them go in first, then closed the sliding mirrored door behind them. Once the door was fully closed, he turned back to them and smiled.

“We’re clear,” he declared. “They don’t keep these booths bugged.”

Abby shrieked and lunged at the man, pulling him into one of her signature vise-like hugs. “Oh my god, Riley! What are you doing here?” She asked excitedly.

He laughed and gripped her equally tight. “Same as you from the looks of it, I’m undercover! My god, I can’t believe you’re in the field! What’s NCIS doing here? Who are these guys?”

She released him and turned to her teammates. “Oh, right! Guys, this is Special Agent Riley Mathis from the FBI. He used to work on our team a few years ago. This is Agent Michelle Lee, she’s on our legal team,” she pointed to Michelle.

Mathis reached out and shook her hand. “Yeah, sorry to say this but you were _way_ too obviously not good at this. You looked like you were either new to the escort business or some kind of Fed.”

Lee grimaced and replied, “Yeah, there’s a gun sticking halfway into my business, so you’ll understand if I’m not exactly comfortable.”

He returned the grimace and gave her a sympathetic nod.

Abby continued, “This is Officer Ziva David, our Mossad liaison.”

Mathis smiled and shook her hand. “A pleasure.”

Ziva felt a stirring within as she looked over the man’s body while shaking his hand.

“And this is Special Agent Timothy McGee,” Abby finished.

McGee took Mathis’ hand. His skin felt warm and not clammy, and the nerves under McGee’s skin ignited happily under the contact. Mathis’ grip was firm without being tight. With his sleeves rolled up, Mathis’ biceps were well-defined even under the shirt, which McGee never even knew he liked. Mathis was a much shorter than Abby but had a broad frame. McGee could see Mathis’ deep blue eyes more clearly now. They were bright, calculating, and confident, and he saw something else that he still couldn’t put his finger on. He was snapped out of his trance by Mathis’ voice.

“Nice to meet you, Timothy. I’m guessing if you’re with Abby you must also work for Gibbs?”

McGee replied, “Yeah, we’re-“

He was interrupted by Tony buzzing in his ear, _“McGee, we might have eyes on Delgado outside. Standby.”_

McGee replied quickly, “Ok.” Turning to the others he explained, “Tony thinks they spotted her outside.”

Mathis cut in, “Wait, Tony? Tony DiNozzo?”

Abby answered, “Yeah, he’s outside monitoring.”

“Wow, this brings me back. What are you guys doing here?”

Ziva responded, “We’re tracking a serial killer that killed a sailor. There’s an escort that works out of here named Lisa Delgado who’s our best lead. Do you know where she is?”

Mathis shook his head. “No, I’ve only been here for a couple of days.”

Abby asked, “Why are you here anyway?”

“I’m tracking this criminal organization and I think Pell’s laundering money for them through here. Couldn’t get a warrant to legally hack into his computer, so I had to get in undercover as a stripper to get past security. I just need to wait until Pell leaves so more of the security is gone.”

Lee raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Couldn’t you have just been a security guard?”

Mathis shrugged. “If I could’ve, do you think I’d be stripping? Believe me, I’d love to not have to get a rabies shot after every dance with ‘Megan the Clawed Menace.’” He grimaced and rubbed his cheek where he was slapped during the routine. “But on the other hand it’s nice to know I have a fallback career.”

Gibbs came through on McGee’s earpiece, _“McGee, you’ll need to get out of there soon but keep it quiet. Delgado and Pell are dead and we have an officer down. It might get ugly in there.”_

“Understood.” McGee stood and turned to the group. “Delgado and Pell are dead. Gibbs said we should start to make our exit.”

Mathis frowned. “Crap. If Pell’s dead they may start searching people on their way out. Don’t leave yet, stay here and wait for my signal.”

“What will you-” McGee started to ask but was cut off by Mathis quickly slipping out the sliding mirrored door and closing it behind them. “What do you think he’s doing?”

Abby smirked. “His job. Riley’s a computer guy like you, so he’s probably using the distraction to get into Pell’s system.”

McGee tried to visually keep up with Mathis through the glass but lost him in the crowd outside. “When did he work for NCIS?”

“Just after I joined, late ‘99. He was funny, a bit nerdy, basically the McGee of our team before we got the real thing,” Abby smiled reminiscently. “We had some good times. He left just before Kate joined.”

Ziva joined them at the one-way glass looking out at the crowd. “Why did he leave?”

Abby shrugged but hesitated before giving her answer. “I think it was just a better fit for him in FBI Cyber Crimes. It kinda came up suddenly.”

McGee heard the uneasiness in her tone and studied her face. For a brief second he thought he saw the look he recognized as her bluffing face, but it quickly changed when she looked at him.

“What?” she asked, eyeing him inquisitively.

McGee shook his head and quickly replied, “Nothing,” before continuing to observe the crowd.

Ziva gave a curious smile. “He certainly has quite the physique for someone in Cyber Crimes. That tattoo must’ve taken a long time.”

“He’s definitely bulked up,” Abby agreed. “He was scrawny when I knew him but always had ‘ok’ tone. I kept in touch for about a year after he left, so it’s been like three years since I last saw him. I hope we have time to catch up.”

They watched for a few minutes, then were startled when the fire alarm started blaring over the club music. The lights brightened and the music ground to a halt as people looked around with confusion and started making their way towards the exit.

Ziva checked the gun in her coat then nodded. “Looks like that’s our signal. Let’s go.”

McGee let the other agents through the door first and kept looking around as they walked. He spotted Mathis coming out of the same door from earlier. McGee tried to get Abby’s attention but got separated from her by a group of drunken patrons stumbling for the door. He tried pushing through them but then felt a hand grasp his arm. When he turned back, Mathis had reached him and spun him around to be standing close to him while others passed by. Mathis looked worried.

“Where’s Abby?” he shouted to McGee over the din of the alarm.

“Heading for the exit. We got separated.” McGee shouted back.

“I’ve been made. The guards are looking for me. Guess you’ll have to do.”

Mathis quickly grabbed McGee by the scarf and pulled him close. He leaned up and whispered into McGee’s ear, “Just go with it and don’t swallow this.”

McGee was alarmed to be so close to Mathis, feeling the skin of the man’s cheek rubbing on his own and the hot breath tickling his ear. But he was definitely not prepared when Mathis quickly ducked back and pressed his lips against McGee’s. McGee’s brain overloaded with shock. His eyes widened and his lips were tightly pressed together under the unexpected pressure. McGee looked into Mathis’ eyes as they slowly opened. Once again, McGee felt calm at their sight and seemed like he was being slowly pulled in by them. The screaming of the alarm was gone, the crowd and the club around them disappeared, and all he felt was the heat of the body in front of him. His lips relaxed and gently brushed against Mathis’ as he slowly began to kiss him back. He tried to find a place for his own hands and ended up awkwardly placing them on Mathis’ hips. He felt Mathis’ left hand cup the back of his neck and pull him even closer. His body seemed to melt at the contact. Without even thinking he and ran one hand around Mathis’ back and held him tight, partially to support himself but mostly to feel more of this man. Mathis pushed hungrily into the kiss, letting his tongue dart against McGee’s lips.

McGee allowed the intruding tongue into his mouth and met it with his own. Mathis’ other hand reached up and held McGee’s cheek. Mathis’ tongue retreated back into his mouth and McGee felt odd movement from Mathis’ mouth momentarily as they kept their lip contact. A moment later Mathis’ tongue returned carrying a small square piece of something that tasted like plastic. McGee was confused at the sudden change of taste on his tongue, and slowly remembered that they were in a nightclub with the alarm blaring and a crowd stampeding around them. McGee remembered Mathis’ words, _‘Don’t swallow this…’_ and nestled the small chip under his tongue. Mathis held the kiss for a little longer, but McGee felt a small bit of disappointment when Mathis gently pulled back. Mathis stared up into McGee’s eyes for a moment.

McGee saw surprise and confusion in the man’s eyes before Mathis was yanked backwards by a pair of strong-looking security guards. Mathis struggled lightly but he shot McGee a mischievous smile while being pulled towards the “Employees Only” door. A third guard in a suit grabbed McGee’s arm and held him in place. McGee was alarmed, but he remembered he had to play the part of the celebrity. He quickly contorted his face a snarl.

“Take your hands off me!” he yelled, trying to keep his cargo under his tongue.

The guard lessened his grip but kept his hand on McGee’s arm. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

McGee thought quickly on his feet and pulled out a persona he used for a diva in his first novel. “The only place I’m going is out of here. And believe me, you _don’t_ want me writing about this place in my next book because _everyone_ will be swarming the front to get in.”

“I just need to ask you a couple of questions,” the guard explained.

“Fine, ask,” McGee retorted as he pushed the man’s arm away to release his grip.

“What did he say to you?”

McGee looked back at the door, then back at the guard. “He wanted me to take him home with me for the night. Some kind of hooker.”

“Check your pockets. Is everything still there? Anything that shouldn’t be there?”

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered just loud enough for the guard to hear as he dug into his pockets. He showed the guard his phone, keys and wallet before stuffing them back into his coat. “Satisfied? He never touched my pockets.”

The guard nodded. “Alright. Go on.”

McGee stormed towards the exit, but once he was away from the guard he breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. He wasn’t sure how to interpret what he saw in Mathis’ eyes, but he was even more confused by his own feelings. He would never have kissed a man in public like that, but something possessed him in that moment. The underside of his tongue slid across the plastic chip, and he was curious as to its contents.

He found Abby, Ziva, and Lee waiting outside. The paparazzi were swarming the crowd of evacuees with the clicking of cameras and the flashing of lights. Ziva approached him and put her arm around his.

“Where have you been?” she whispered while smiling for the cameras.

McGee felt uncomfortable with the chip still held in his mouth but wanted to be in private before examining it. He murmured, “Let’s just go,” and hailed their limo.

He went inside first and sat on the long seat on the side. While the other three were getting in, he tongued the small chip out from his mouth and wiped it off to see that it was actually a MicroSD memory card. He turned it over in his hand and examined it.

Abby dropped back into the seat next to him and squeaked, “Wow! That was fun. What’cha got there, McGee?”

McGee waited until the door was closed before holding it up and showing it to her as they got moving.

“A memory card?” she asked as she examined it curiously. “Where did you get it?”

“Mathis slipped it to me,” McGee replied. He decided not to go into detail about how he got it. Other than never having expressed his feelings about men to any of them, he also was still processing the memory of the exchange himself. “He said he had been ID-ed and gave it to me just before he was grabbed by security.”

“He’s probably being searched or interrogated,” Ziva speculated.

McGee’s shuddered to think of what that meant for the man he just met. “You think he’ll be alright?”

“Knowing Riley, he’ll have something up his sleeve to get him out. I wonder what’s on this, though,” Abby commented as she handed the card back to McGee.

“Probably all the data he needs on Pell,” Ziva reasoned. “Hopefully it will make this assignment worth it. Any agent would have some kind of backup for an undercover op, though.”

Lee groaned with relief as she removed her thigh holster. “Ugh, I don’t care what my next undercover assignment is, I’m wearing a longer skirt.”

McGee sat looking at the floor as the others chatted on. He would occasionally look up at a mirrored strip on the mini-bar inside the limo, and when he’d look up at it he would see those sparkling blue eyes staring back at him for an instant. His mind wandered to the kiss. His lips quivered when he remembered the pressure against them and his hands twitched when they remembered the body they held. McGee tried to remember the last time he held someone that way, and found himself worried that he let it happen. He also felt worried about Mathis, thinking of what kind of interrogation he was going through. He was never impulsive and no one had ever gotten under his skin like that except Abby and Gibbs.

_‘Gibbs!’_ he thought to himself. He couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten about him after being distracted by Mathis however briefly it may have been. He wondered how Gibbs would respond after reading that McGee had kissed Mathis in his report. Gibbs never made any overt gestures of possessiveness of McGee, but sometimes his hand lingered on McGee’s shoulder for a few extra seconds, sometimes he stood closer to McGee than he needed to, and sometimes McGee caught Gibbs smiling at him instead of giving the usual eye roll after he would go on a tangent of technical verbiage. Those were enough to keep McGee’s interest alive, but for once McGee found himself distracted and he didn’t know if he liked that feeling. He tried to push the look of Mathis’ eyes into the back of his mind, but the image didn’t go quietly.

Abby noticed McGee’s odd mood and nudged him. “Hey, you ok?”

“Yeah,” McGee quickly lied. He sighed and brushed his thumb over the face of the memory card again. “Just a really weird night.” He pocketed the card and stared out the window for the rest of the drive.


	3. Chapter 2

NCIS

Abby sat on the corner of McGee’s desk swinging her legs and twirling a black foam heart on a stick between her fingers. McGee, Ziva, and Tony were writing up their reports from the One Club mission at each of their desks to finish up the night.

“This was one messed up Valentine’s Day,” Abby commented gloomily.

Ziva laughed at her desk as she looked at herself in a small mirror. “If I didn’t look like a prostitute, I’d offer to go out for drinks. I swear, I don’t remember the last time I wore this much makeup.”

Tony chimed in, “Remember that undercover op we did together at the hotel? I think that was the most makeup I had ever seen you wear and that’s not even close to what you have on now. You’ll have guys buying you drinks left and right.”

“Thanks, Tony,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

McGee barely heard the conversation. He was carefully wording his report on his exchange with Mathis, but kept re-reading the same last line over and over again without typing because he was distracted. His eyes traveled to the memory card perched in plain sight in front of his keyboard. He didn’t like writing in the report that they had left behind an agent from another bureau, but the smile Mathis gave McGee while he was being dragged away reassured McGee that he’d make it out just fine.

After a chime of the elevator and Abby yelling “Riley!” across the floor, McGee looked up sharply to see Mathis emerging from the elevator. He was still wearing the tight jeans from the club but was now wearing a t-shirt and black leather jacket with two blue stripes across the shoulders. The left side of his face just under his eye was red and swollen with the beginnings of a bad bruise and his nose looked like it might have been broken. He smiled and waved at Abby as he walked towards them, but McGee could see him wince in pain through the smile.

Tony stood up with a snigger when he saw him. “Geez, Riles, I figured I’d bump into you tonight but apparently someone beat me to the punch!”

Mathis groaned and dropped his head back in disgust. “Good god, Probie. It’s been four years and you _still_ can’t tell a good joke?”

“That _was_ good!” Tony insisted, hoping to draw attention away from the ‘Probie’ nickname while in front of the others. He held his arms open and gave Mathis a one-armed bro-style hug, trying not to hit Mathis’ face with his shoulder. He then chuckled out, “You are BUILT, man! What kind of workout have you been doing?”

Mathis grinned and shrugged, “Honestly most of it was in the last month trying to prep for this role. I feel like I’ve been in the gym more this past month than the last year. Tonight I am sitting down with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.” He turned around to see the rest of the squad room. “Hey again… er… Ziva?” Mathis guessed as he waved to Ziva.

“Yes, hello again,” Ziva smiled.

Abby leapt to get another hug from Mathis, then stuck to his side as they walked back towards McGee’s desk. She had her arm over his shoulders and his around her waist as she easily had five inches in height over him. “McGee said you got taken by security. How did you get out?”

“I kept a decoy memory card,” he replied triumphantly. “I got one of them off me but they pinned me down, and I knew they’d keep after me till they found something. Offered them the memory card if they let me go, and they went for it just to get me out of the way while they sorted out Pell being killed.”

Abby grinned proudly and shook him lightly. “And here I thought you weren’t any good in a fist-fight! Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he grunted with a wince. “But I think I’m better in a bar brawl than fighting someone with actual training.”

McGee stood up and hesitantly looked at Mathis. The bruises on the other man’s face provided enough distraction to keep McGee from looking directly into his eyes, but his heart still fluttered at the sight of the man.

“Hey, uh, Agent Mathis,” McGee stammered since he wasn’t sure what to call him having only just met him.

“Riley’s fine, McGee,” Riley corrected with a painful-looking smile.

“Oh, ok,” McGee replied with a slight tingle in his cheeks. “Oh and here’s the memory card.” He reached down and handed over the card.

Riley accepted it, still holding his smile. “Excellent, thanks for holding onto it for me.”

McGee saw a brief twinkle in the other man’s eyes before once again being distracted by the bruise. “Did… er… did you find what you were looking for?”

Riley flipped the card like a coin, caught it and put it in his pocket. “I think so. I didn’t really have time to go through it in-depth, so I just took whatever data I could find and planted a trojan to keep me connected remotely.”

Abby scoffed mockingly, “What, you weren’t able to hack into them with your big, fancy FBI computers?”

Riley nudged her hard with his shoulder, causing Abby to giggle. “I tried for a whole week and couldn’t get through. Pell was helping this group called OMNI. They’re a domestic cyber-terrorist organization with connections all over the place but they’re very good at covering their tracks. The firewall they had on the One Club server was insane.”

McGee’s brain clicked on like a lightbulb. “Wait, OMNI? Written out as 0-M-N-1?”

Riley smiled again, “Yeah. You guys run into them too?”

McGee would’ve been distracted by Riley’s smile, but his technological fascination got the better of him. “No, but I’ve heard about them online. They’re hackers that keep trying to dig up government secrets, right?”

“That’s how they started, but they started selling the stolen information instead of just leaking it to the public. They also started selling themselves as a secure platform for people to trade weapons schematics, communiques, computer viruses, anything. The FBI got involved when we came across some pretty serious hacking software with their signature on it. I’ve just scratched the surface of what they’re up to, but hopefully this card will help me build a client list and get us closer to finding them.”

“You should have McGee help you,” Abby suggested. “He’s the one best hackers I’ve ever seen, probably even better than you.”

“Oh really?” Riley looked at McGee with an intrigued smirk.

McGee blushed and stuttered, “Well- I- uh- I studied computer forensics at MIT. I’m… probably… ok.” Realizing how stupid he must’ve sounded, he kicked himself. _‘Pull yourself together, Tim!’_

“You’re more than ok, _McGeek_ ,” Tony encouraged as he stood up with his gear. “You can dismantle and rebuild a computer with your eyes closed.”

McGee liked the compliment, but knew it wouldn’t be Tony’s last word. _‘Tony giveth…’_

“Maybe if you spent less time doing that, you’d have a date for Valentine’s Day,” Tony sneered as he walked away.

_‘… Tony taketh away,’_ McGee completed in his head and rolled his eyes.

Riley chuckled quietly. “Same old Tony. Don’t feel bad, McGee. The closest thing I had to a date tonight is probably getting paid to take someone else’s clothes off.”

McGee snorted and flushed. “Given the choice, I think I’m good.”

“I bet,” Riley replied quietly. “Well McGee, if you’re as good with computers as they say, I hereby challenge you to a duel.”

Abby snickered. “I wouldn’t do that, Riles. He’ll kick your ass!” Abby then made a motion with her hands and arms towards Riley that McGee recognized as sign language.

Riley signed back and stuck his tongue out at her briefly, then continued, “I dunno, I still like to think I’ve got the magic touch. If I’ve lost it then the guys in Cyber Crimes will never let me live it down.”

McGee’s interest was piqued by the sign language and suddenly remembered that Riley had made some kind of signal at the club. He realized Riley must’ve signaled Abby to remain in character because Abby had reminded the rest of the group of that just after signing. He wished he was able to interpret what they just said, but he returned his focus to Riley’s intriguing proposal. “What kind of a duel?”

“I designed a game that’s basically like _Risk_ except you use servers around the globe instead of armies and try to take them over. You and I would go head-to-head, hacker versus hacker.”

McGee smiled intently. “Sounds like fun! Challenge accepted.”

Riley held out his hand like a gentleman and McGee shook it. Riley turned to Abby and asked, “Hey, uh, do you know where Gibbs is? Been a while.”

“I think he already went home,” she replied, her expression stiffening a bit.

McGee detected the same hesitation he heard in her voice at the club. He couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong because she didn’t seem concerned, just uncertain.

Riley shrugged. “Alright, no big deal. Anyway, I gotta get this back to the Bureau and get showered up. I’ll stop by in a few days and we can have that duel if you’re not too busy,” he looked hopefully at McGee. He then gave Abby a final squeeze and said, “See ya.”

Abby sighed as they watched Riley leave. “You know what, I’m gonna call it a night too. Bye guys!”

McGee and Ziva were the last ones in the bullpen. McGee sat back at his desk and replayed the conversation in his mind. _‘Alright, a battle of computer skills. He’s not interested in me, he’s just nice and cool. What did he and Abby say to each other?’_

Ziva was taking out her large earrings and wiping off some excess makeup when McGee’s curiosity got the best of him and he walked over to her desk.

He dropped his voice to a whisper. “You can read sign language, right?”

“Of course,” she answered.

“Did you see what they said to each other?”

She shook her head. “Abby’s back was to me so I didn’t see what she said, but Riley said ‘Shut up.’ Why?”

McGee frowned in concentration trying to interpret Abby’s signing himself, but got nowhere. “Just wondering,” he muttered and walked back to his desk.

Ziva gave him a sly smile. “Well he seems to have taken an interest in you, that’s for sure.”

His head darted up to look at her. “What do you mean by that?” he asked nervously.

“Well, just that you seem to have a bit in common. He barely looked at my outfit and went right for you when he got here.”

“I had his memory card, Ziva. That’s all.”

She stood up and added, “No need to get defensive, McGee, I meant it as a compliment. Besides, I didn’t think he was your type.” Ziva smiled knowingly as she left, which left McGee feeling uneasy.

He looked back worriedly at his computer. _‘No, she didn’t mean Gibbs was my type. She doesn’t think men are my type. She has no idea. She couldn’t know.’_ The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he remembered the feel of Riley’s hand there. He also remembered feeling Gibbs’ warm grip on his shoulder, and his shoulder tingled at the memory. The image of Riley’s face against McGee’s suddenly flashed in his mind and sent a shuddering wave down his body, overwriting both previous sensations and making McGee quietly gasp. He looked back at Gibbs’ desk hoping that Gibbs didn’t see that, but he had forgotten that no one else was there. _‘No, definitely not my type,’_ he reminded himself unconvincingly.

NCIS

Gibbs enjoyed the sound of his brace digging through the wooden frame of the boat. He could always tell by sound if the wood was going to crack or if something was wrong with the drill bit. He never liked to use power tools when working on his boats, instead finding solace in using his hands. Occasionally he put on music from the tape player he had, but he generally preferred the quiet. Tonight the smell of sawdust was also joined by the smell of Chinese food waiting on the workbench. Over the chipping of the drill he heard footsteps upstairs, so he pulled out the drill and ducked out from inside the frame of the boat. He leaned back against the workbench and worked a rag around the drill bit to clean off the sawdust until he saw Riley enter through the doorway at the top of the stairs.

“Hello, Mathis,” Gibbs greeted him quietly with a small smile. He noted the bruises on his face and nose that had begun to transition from red to purple.

Riley returned a small smirk and replied, “Hey, Gibbs.”

Riley looked around the basement and started down the stairs. Halfway down he stopped, drew a pocket knife from his belt and opened it, then threw it hard across the basement. It slammed loudly into one of the wooden columns lining the walls, sinking its blade a few inches below a series of similar cuts and gashes grouped closely together.

“Ugh, too low. I’m out of practice,” Riley admitted.

Gibbs looked at the knife’s handle and remembered similar crashing sounds of knives being thrown repeatedly from the stairs at the same target. “If that’s all you’re off by after four years without practice, that’s not bad.”

Riley smiled and continued down the stairs.

Gibbs put down the brace and walked halfway over towards Riley. “Abby mentioned you were at the nightclub tonight. Didn’t know the FBI had eyes on the place too.”

Riley shrugged. “Well, you know how good communication is in the _Alphabet Soup_. Did you find your killer?”

“Yeah. You find what you needed?”

“I think so. I’ll know more tomorrow.”

Gibbs moved closer and looked down at the other agent. The air around them was still, silent and tense. Riley’s blue eyes found his and they stared for a moment before the younger man looked away. Gibbs examined the large bruise under Riley’s left eye. “Well, you’ve looked worse, I’ll give you that.”

Riley snorted and looked back up at Gibbs. “Gee, thanks. You look…” His voice trailed off when he looked behind Gibbs and saw the pile of food waiting on the workbench. He nodded understandingly and resumed, “… You look like you’re expecting company, so I’ll leave you to it.” He turned towards the stairs.

“It’s fine,” Gibbs quickly replied. “You can stay for a bit. I’ve got some time.”

Riley turned back towards him and nervously chewed his lower lip.

Gibbs sighed, trying to relax. “How are you, Riley?”

“I’m doing ok… Jethro,” he replied hesitantly. “FBI was a good move for me.”

“That’s good,” Gibbs nodded as he went back to the boat. “So you’re happy?”

Riley shrugged. “You know me. Gettin’ there. How about you? You happy?”

Gibbs gave a so-so nod. “You know me.”

Riley smirked and walked over to where his knife protruded from the column. He pulled it out and ran his fingers gingerly over the cuts and gouges in the wood, then looked around the rest of the basement. “Have you told them how you do it?”

“Who have I told what?” Gibbs called as he resumed his work inside the frame.

“Whomever the food is for,” Riley indicated salaciously with a bump of his eyebrows. “Have you told them how you get the boat out?”

“No, but I might. Have you told anyone?”

Riley chuckled mischievously and put away his knife. “And give away your secret? Not a chance.”

Gibbs began drilling a new hole in the frame. “How’s the cabin?”

“Survived another winter. I’m planning to go up next weekend to inspect it.”

“Bring anyone with you lately?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow as he asked the question.

Riley kicked lightly at the ground. “Not really. Occasionally a group of old friends for a barbecue in the summer, but otherwise just me. I finished fixing up Dad’s bike, though. Been riding for a couple of years now.”

“Sounds like fun,” Gibbs admitted with a smile.

They both heard the footsteps of someone upstairs and looked towards the door as Lt. Colonel Hollis Mann rounded the doorway. Her blonde hair wound down to her shoulders above her beige overcoat as she looked down at the pair with surprise.

“Oh, hello,” she muttered confusedly. “Am I interrupting?”

Riley cut ahead of Gibbs, “No, I was just leaving.”

Gibbs got out from inside the boat frame and looked at Riley. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Gibbs. Have a good night.” Riley went up the stairs and gave Mann a small smile and nod while passing her.

Mann wasn’t sure how to react to seeing a well-bruised man down in the basement with Gibbs, but she continued down the stairs nonetheless. Gibbs nodded and watched Riley leave before turning to Mann’s curious look.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Just an old friend from work,” Gibbs answered. “Food’s getting cold.”

NCIS

“MCGEE!” Gibbs barked across the bullpen before delivering a hard kick to his computer. “Fix this damn machine before I shoot it!”

“You know that doesn’t-” McGee winced at his desk as another loud slam reverberated from direction of Gibbs’ desk, “-help…”

“It helps me!” Gibbs huffed and stormed off.

McGee scurried over to Gibbs’ desk to see what was happening on the screen and began muttering to himself as he looked it over.

Tony peeked up from his crouched position behind his monitor. “Whew, computers really have it out for the boss-man this week.”

Ziva nodded in agreement. “That’s the third time five days.”

“You keep count?” Tony asked sarcastically.

“It’d really help if his first instinct wasn’t to kick them,” McGee grumbled.

It had been just over a week since the One Club assignment. Since then, McGee had borne the brunt of Gibbs’ computer issue-fueled rage. Gibbs normally didn’t yell this much about his computer, and especially didn’t normally yell this much at him. He was trying hard to get it replaced but was getting the run-around from Supply about requisitioning Gibbs yet another new computer. Apparently they were still in disbelief that Gibbs had really gone through 14 cell phones in under a year and decided to put the team’s requests under extra scrutiny. McGee tried running a few commands, but the computer suddenly flashed a bright blue screen and fizzled out. McGee groaned and buried his head in his heads. He tried not to take Gibbs’ frustration personally, but it was difficult when he, the tech wizard of the team, couldn’t explain why Gibbs encountered problem after problem. It also didn’t help his morale that Gibbs had been keeping a distance from him in the cases since One Club. He hadn’t stood close or even given McGee a head-slap over the last week, just calculating looks and the occasional cold stare that he usually pulled out for interrogations.

Frustrated, McGee unplugged all the cables from the back of the computer and carried it down to Supply, where the technician took 15 minutes of repeatedly failing to power the computer back on to finally say, “It really is broken, then,” and giving him a new tower. Upon arriving back in the bullpen, he saw that Tony and Ziva were both gone and a note lay on Gibbs’ desk, reading ‘FIX!’ in bold permanent marker. He could feel Gibbs’ cold stare through the note and hear the disappointment. He gently pounded his fist on the desk and got to work connecting the new tower. While it booted he pulled an external drive out of his desk and began connecting it to the new computer as well. After the first leg of Gibbs’ computer-kicking marathon earlier that week, McGee made a copy of his hard drive in case the computer deteriorated further. His instinct served him well, but when the computer told him it would take three hours to copy the data he groaned again.

While the computer prepared itself, McGee poured himself a cup of coffee and decided to visit Abby. When he reached her lab he walked in and saw Abby talking to Riley, but they appeared to be signing to each other while they spoke. Riley’s bruises appeared to have mostly healed, but McGee could still see a bit of discoloration in his face. McGee noted that Abby’s thick-soled high-heel boots made her tower over Riley as she signed down to him. He stayed silent in the doorway and continued to listen and watch.

“Wait, so the scanner was actually fooled by a ballistics gel mold of the guy’s thumb?” Abby asked while speedily signing.

Riley’s hands were a blur as he spoke. “No kidding. It’s like elementary forensics to recreate a fingerprint with a mold, but only certain scanners know the difference. For as worried about security as that guy was, he really should’ve worn gloves more often.”

“Yes, he probably… wait… DAMMIT!” Abby threw her hands down in frustration.

“HA!” Riley cackled. “Pay up!”

“No fair!” Abby cried as she pulled out her chained wallet and fished out a five-dollar bill. “You were spelling too fast.”

“Oh, _I_ was too fast?” Riley retorted. “I’ve never seen someone sign ‘because I sleep in a coffin’ so fast. Probably never will, either.”

McGee was totally lost and chose that moment to interject. “What are you guys doing?”

Abby was startled but smiled when she saw him in the doorway. “Oh hey, McGee!”

Riley was startled by his appearance, but his victory smile widened when he saw McGee. “Hey! It’s just this game we used to play whenever we’d see each other at work.”

Abby continued, “We have one conversation verbally but have another in Sign. Whoever gets mixed up first has to pay.”

“The longer the conversation lasts, the more the loser pays,” Riley added with an evil smile as he pocketed his winnings. “Puts the pressure on.”

McGee chuckled at the idea, which felt good after the day he was having. “Of all the people I could see winning at having two conversations at once, it would definitely be Abby.”

“It would, if someone didn’t cheat…” she mumbled bitterly.

“Oh don’t be a sore loser,” Riley replied and threw an arm over her shoulder. “What about you, McGee? What are you up to?”

McGee thought he’d feel nervous when Riley looked him in the eye, but instead he started to feel calmer than he did earlier. “Well, Gibbs’ computer finally decided to die yet again today, so I have a new one setting itself up upstairs. It’ll be a few hours.”

“Is he still grouchy about computers?”

McGee scoffed. “Grouchy is an understatement. It’s been a rough week.”

“Aw, that sucks. How long is it gonna take?”

“A few hours. I think they’re out on a case now.”

Abby giggled. “What, did Gibbs ground you for not fixing his computer?”

McGee rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Ugh, it certainly feels like it. I swear, I think he likes kicking and screaming about anything electronic.”

“He does,” Riley assured him. “Believe me, you have not seen ‘Grouchy Gibbs’ until you give him a computer with Windows 2000 on it.”

McGee shuddered fearfully at the thought of Gibbs trying to use the inferior operating system.

“Well hey, if you’ve got some time I can show you that game I told you about and we can settle the ‘best hacker’ debate,” Riley offered with an enticing smile.

McGee nodded approvingly. “Sure, anything to get my mind off of all this crap with Gibbs’ computer. Not like I can do anything else to it right now anyway.”

Abby clapped her hands together and grinned excitedly. “Oh, this’ll be good! Wait here, I’ll start some popcorn and battle music.” She skipped to the back of her lab.

McGee looked at Riley and realized they were alone for the first time since they kissed. He felt his heart rate increase and even spotted nervous signs on Riley’s face.

Riley slowly approached him and lowered his voice, “Hey, listen, sorry if I made you uncomfortable when I… well, you know. It was kinda a last-second idea since I couldn’t find Abby. I figured security would try to search you but wouldn’t expect anything to be in your… mouth…”

McGee could see a tinge of pink on Riley’s cheeks but could feel his own turning bright red. He kept remembering the feeling of Riley’s lips on his, so finding words was a struggle with Riley standing so close to him. “Oh… um… no, no that’s fine, it’s fine. I figured it was just... well… for work.”

Riley blinked for a moment, then gave an awkward smile and agreed, “Yeah. Yeah, just for work.”

McGee was surprised to feel a small sinking feeling of disappointment in his gut upon hearing him say that. Of course, Riley _had_ asked for Abby first, and they hung all over each other whenever they were around together. But then he remembered the brief moment after their kiss when their eyes locked, and the in that moment Riley’s eyes seemed to hold more confusion rather than professional confidence. That and Riley’s current smile that he couldn’t quite read now made McGee wonder if maybe there was something more. He once again surprised himself by hoping for that outcome.

Loud rock music started from Abby’s stereo, snapping both men out of their reverie. Riley gave McGee another quick, nervous smile and turned to Abby’s workstation. McGee logged into the computer next to him and watched as he opened up a remote drive.

“Alright,” Riley started, “what kind of map do we want? Traditional _Risk_? Or do we want a more modernized map?”

“Let’s go traditional. How exactly does this work?”

“One second.” Riley opened up the game’s home page in both his and McGee’s browsers, then opened a text file from his drive that contained pages and pages of encrypted symbols and text, then copied and pasted it into a text box titled “Map” on the game’s home page. He hit “New Game” and a map began rendering on both of their screens. Layer by layer, the map gained color, country lines, connecting lines, and server icons with IP addresses.

Riley began explaining the rules to McGee. His version of the game was similar to the board game other than being in real-time instead of turn-based. Instead of soldiers in a region of territory, they had server hosts in each region that they’d use to combat each other by overwriting the other server’s programming. The defender would try to block the connection and prevent access. The side with more processors had a greater chance of succeeding in either task. Abby perched herself cross-legged with her popcorn on one of the lab tables and watched as they began their gameplay.

“Ok, so if I do this,” McGee mumbled as he began his usual hacking steps.

“Right, then that notifies me that you’re attacking and I shut you down… like this,” Riley explained as he countered.

“Ok, so…” he muttered before trying another tactic.

“Uh-uh! Come on, you can do better than that,” Riley taunted.

McGee narrowed his eyes and slowly started smiling with enjoyment as he delved further and further into the commands and processing. Though he’d never seen a game like this, it still operated on principles of computing that he knew like his own heartbeat. He managed to gain a foothold in Australia, which was a strategically good location in the board game.

Abby offered occasional “Oo’s” and “Ah’s” as the game progressed. Riley and McGee bantered back and forth once they each found their programming rhythm.

“Forget it, you’re not getting North America,” McGee reminded his opponent.

“I’m coming for Greenland, you know. It’s either lose that or lose your continent bonus in Africa.”

“We’ll see,” he said confidently.

“What do you think of my firewall? Better or worse than the ones at the FBI?” Riley asked.

McGee glanced sideways at him and smiled slyly. “And what makes you think I’ve hacked through the FBI’s firewall?”

“Oh come on. Anyone who’s ever worked anywhere in the _Alphabet_ has at least checked out the other agencies’ security. You can’t expect me to believe someone with your skill hasn’t given it a shot.”

McGee tried to hold back his smile but it stayed plastered on his face. “Not saying I have, not saying I haven’t, but I do like your defensive programming. It has good style to it.”

“Thanks, McGee. That takedown of my Northern Europe server was a thing of beauty, by the way.”

McGee felt his cheeks lightly flush. Riley seemed genuinely nice, and even if he really did have no romantic interest in McGee he would at least be an interesting friend. He hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, “Tim.”

“Pardon?”

“Tim,” he repeated. “My name, at least what I go by when off-duty. Abby just kinda calls me whatever, whenever, but McGee’s more for when I’m on-duty.”

“Tim,” Riley confirmed with a smile and a slight tint of pink on his face. “Alright.”

Behind them, Abby listened intently to their conversation and smiled in fascination at what she was hearing.

About an hour later, Ziva and Tony wandered down to the lab. They looked curiously up at the screens to try and make sense of what was happening without asking, but eventually wound up at a loss.

Tony leaned against the table behind where Abby was sitting and whispered, “What exactly is going on?”

“It’s their hacker’s duel. They’ve been neck-and-neck for almost two hours now,” Abby quietly replied.

Ziva eyed them curiously. “What’s the point?”

Abby shrugged. “You know, I thought it was to see who the better hacker is, but I think I forgot just how big of gaming nerds they both are. I may have made a mistake encouraging this.”

Both players had removed their sports coats and rolled up their sleeves. Tim’s hair was slightly disheveled and his shirt was half-untucked, while Riley’s shirt was unbuttoned and his tie hung loosely.

Tim scoffed. “Huh. Trying to use my own firewall design against me, are you?”

“Just keeping you on your toes.”

“Wait,” Tim muttered, “Wait I’m attacking your server but it already has my programming on it.”

Riley laughed. “Yeah, I disabled your Indonesia server’s attack notification that last round and made Siam route its traffic there, so you just took down your own firewall and let me…” he paused as he rapidly tapped on his keyboard, “get right in there.”

Tim’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Hey! You can’t do that!”

“Of course I can! I told you to run diagnostics on your server after every attack, but someone didn’t listen.”

“Alright,” Tim growled, “it’s on. You’re going down.”

Riley grinned smugly. “Care to make it interesting?”

Tim’s ears perked up, as did his heartbeat. “I’m listening.”

“It’s Friday night, loser buys drinks.”

“You’re on,” Tim accepted before letting the suggestion sink in. His eyes widened when he realized exactly what just happened. _‘Wait, did he just ask me out for drinks? And I just said yes? Or is this just a bet for the game? No, no he said he was just working when he… no, this is just a bet for the game. Right?’_ He snapped himself out of his distraction and realized that while he was busy thinking, Riley had fortified the perimeter of his servers with extra processors, leaving his inner territories weaker. Tim dove into his keyboard and devised his attack plan.

Tony tilted his head to the side and stared at the two players from behind in confusion. He leaned in between Abby and Ziva and whispered, “Did we just stumble into the _Discovery Channel_ episode on how nerds mate in the wild?”

Ziva managed to mostly stifle her snort at the question. “You think that’s what’s going on here?” she asked quietly.

“It’s a definite possibility,” Abby nodded in astonishment.

“And McGee probably has no idea,” Tony suggested.

Ziva looked worriedly from Tim to Tony. “You mean about Riley?”

Tony frowned and glanced sideways at her. “You guessed it, huh? Didn’t take long. Can’t wait to see the look on McGee’s face when he figures it out.”

Ziva shot him a confused look but was startled by a sudden shout from Tim.

“YES!”

“DAMMIT!” Riley yelled back in frustration.

Tim had broken through Riley’s perimeter territories and was rapidly overpowering the weak servers in his interior. By the time he was done, he had taken down more than half of Riley’s servers and now had a very large advantage. “That strategy only works if you can hold that defense line. Basic _Risk_.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Riley huffed.

Abby eyed Riley suspiciously, and her lips twisted up into a knowing smile. Riley tried a few more tricks to keep his remaining servers online, but he couldn’t hold off Tim’s onslaught.

“And that is game!” Tim declared victoriously.

Riley hung his head in defeat, then offered his hand to the victor with a grimace. “I am humbled in the presence of the master.”

Tim felt his confidence restored as he shook Riley’s hand. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it was beginner’s luck. Next game, we’ll see.”

Riley gave a small smile, and Tim could’ve sworn he saw his eyes flicker with a hint of mischief. They both turned around and were startled in seeing Tony and Ziva there with Abby. They were so engrossed in the game that they never heard them.

“Oh, hey!” Tim called, straightening out his hair and tucking in his shirt to get back into a professional appearance. “Didn’t hear you guys come in. Where did you go earlier?”

“Got a call about a break-in at our dead guy’s house while you were down at Supply,” Tony explained. “Turns out it was just a neighbor kid who crashed his baseball through the window and went inside after it. How’s the boss’ computer?”

McGee checked his watch and sighed. “Hopefully ready in a few minutes.” He turned to Riley. “I gotta run, but I’ll be needing that drink tonight.”

Riley smirked and handed him his card, which McGee took and added the number to his phone before heading back upstairs to continue work on Gibbs’ computer. Tony and Ziva followed, but Abby slowly approached Riley.

“You would _never_ use that strategy,” she teased suspiciously. “I see what you did.”

Riley bit his bottom lip and tried unsuccessfully to hide his smile. “I don’t know what you mean,” he called casually as he swept up his coat and headed out of the lab.


	4. Chapter 3

NCIS

McGee counted the minutes after Gibbs sat down at the new computer to see how quickly there would be something wrong. He exchanged silent glances with Tony and Ziva, who were both eyeing him strangely ever since the game with Riley ended a few hours ago. He messaged Riley as the end of the day approached and got a text back suggesting a bar where they could meet. McGee agreed and sped through his paperwork in the hopes of leaving early. He looked up again and saw Ziva staring at him again.

He frowned in confusion and mouthed, “What?”

She quickly realized she was staring and looked back to her computer.

McGee quietly grumbled. Ever since her comment about his ‘taste’ in people, he wasn’t sure what to make of her. He looked back up at her, but this time she was looking at Tony with worry in her face. Now he was even more confused. Tony, on the other hand, hadn’t noticed and was now busy rifling through some kind of vacation website. McGee finished printing his case report and looked over at Gibbs. His mood had calmed since earlier, but McGee still felt uneasy around him today.

He hesitantly walked over and slid his report onto Gibbs’ desk. Gibbs briefly looked at the report, then glanced up at him for a fraction of a second and nodded. McGee’s heart sank slightly that Gibbs still seemed to be somewhat distant with him. He went back to his desk, shut off his computer, grabbed his bag and headed for the elevator.

“Going for drinks?” Tony asked, thinly masking his usual teasing voice. “With _Riles_?”

McGee paused, unsure what to make of his tone. “Yeah. He lost the game, so he’s buying.” He slowly continued towards the elevator, not daring to look at Gibbs to see his reaction to meeting with Riley.

Tony grinned and called, “Have fun!”

Ziva watched McGee head towards the elevator, then shot her death-glare at Tony and hissed, “What the _hell_ is wrong with you?”

Tony’s grin fell slightly as he looked questioningly at her. “What?”

She scoffed and looked back down at her computer. She had her suspicions about McGee’s attraction to Gibbs, but chalked it up to a form of hero-worship since he’d never shown attraction to other men. She wasn’t sure what to make of him and Riley, but her gut – as she learned to call it from Gibbs – told her that if McGee hadn’t understood Riley’s intentions it would merely be awkward between them and not catastrophic. Her worst fear was what Tony would do if that turned out to be the case. He teased McGee enough without actually knowing his preferences, and she knew she’d have to intervene if McGee ever wanted to live it down.

She waited until Gibbs left for Director Shepard’s office, then swiftly launched herself over to Tony’s desk and pushed him backwards in his chair against his cabinets.

“Hey!” he yelped in surprised. “What are you-?”

“Listen Tony,” she interrupted. “I know you like to tease McGee whenever you get the chance, but leave this one alone.”

“What are you talking about?!”

“This!” she gestured towards the elevator. “Him! Riley! Whatever happens tonight.”

“Oh, come on! He has no idea he’s walking into a date.”

“Do you know that?” she glared at him threateningly.

“It’s _McGeek_ we’re talking about here. He’s the same guy who got a tattoo on his ass to impress Abby. He’s not…” He stopped when he saw her glare. “Ok. One, cut out the nasty look, _Miss Congeniality_. Two, there’s no way McGee would be interested in Riley.”

“Why not?” she shrugged but held her serious face, “You don’t know that for certain. And if he’s not, what chance do you think he has at finding a girlfriend if you tell everyone in the world that he accidentally went on a date with another guy?”

“Are you serious? Come on, even _I_ know that’d be crossing the line. The real joke is that McGee attracts both sexes and has no idea how to talk to either of them.”

“It’s not funny, Tony! In case you haven’t noticed since you’ve been so busy with your own steady girlfriend, he hasn’t had much going on.” She looked around to see who was around and lowered her voice. “What if he actually is attracted to Riley? How do you think your teasing will make both of them feel? They’re your friends!”

Tony stood up and looked sternly down at her. “Of course they’re my friends, Ziva,” he whispered, “which is why I was trying to hint to McGee what tonight is in case he doesn’t know, and clearly he doesn’t. And if he does, great! That’s two birds with one stone.”

Ziva’s eyes were daggers. “You’re going to throw _rocks_ at them?!”

“ _No!_ ” he retorted loudly and rolled his eyes. “It’s an exp- Geez, it’s like you think I’m a monster.” Dropping his voice down to a whisper he continued, “It means that two of my friends will have gone on a date that they _desperately_ need. I’ll be happy for them!”

She stared at him for another moment to see if he meant what he said. “Not just Riley, but McGee too?”

“Both of them. Look, I used to tease Riley the same way, but when I figured out what was going on with him I stopped immediately. If it turns out that McGee is the same way, then it’s off-limits. I’m not worried about how Riley will take it if McGee’s not interested, but McGee will be way too embarrassed for me to _not_ say something.”

Her gaze softened, but she still eyed him commandingly. “No teasing. Period.”

Tony scanned her calculatingly for a moment, then smiled. “Alright, fine. No teasing on _this_ subject, but you don’t even get to ask him how it went. If I’m silent, so are you. If he tells us, he tells us with without prompt from either one of us,” he emphasized by pointing a finger closely at her.

Her eyes narrowed to the tiniest slits but her mouth betrayed the faintest smile. “Fine. We’ll know by the look on his face when he comes in Monday morning anyway.”

Tony held out his hand to shake, which Ziva gripped tightly as she shook. They each watched the other suspiciously as they sat at their desks and resumed their paperwork.

NCIS

Gibbs walked casually out of the elevator towards Abby’s lab while carrying his coat over his arm. He thought he might’ve missed her as the main lights were off, but she emerged from the rear lab with a strut in her step and wearing a shining black raincoat. She grinned as she met Gibbs’ eyes.

“Hey Gibbs. Everyone leave already?”

He said nothing, but gave a subtle affirmative nod.

She put her hands on her hips. “You know, you need to start being nicer to your computers and especially McGee. He’ll start taking it personally.”

Again, Gibbs said nothing but gave a ‘Really?’ look, though his lips revealed a coy smile.

Abby narrowed her eyes curiously. “Well, at least he and Riley are really getting along.”

Gibbs nodded again, but tilted his head to the side with his patented ‘What else are you going to tell me?’ look.

She pursed her lips defiantly but after a moment she couldn’t contain it anymore. “Okay! Yes, it was me! I’m sorry! I promise, I won’t break your computer again or play matchmaker during work. I just needed McGee to stick around and to get them in the same room again.”

Another silent nod from Gibbs, though his face relaxed from its interrogative expressions.

“Still, you probably could’ve been nicer to McGee. But I did kinda set him up. I guess we should both do something nice for him together?”

He smiled casually and nodded.

She paused, but after a moment of silence she started to smile. “You gotta admit that it worked though, right?”

Gibbs stepped forward and gave her a small peck on the cheek, then strolled away grinning.

Abby stood still, letting the relief wash over her, then jumped up and down excitedly and ran to catch up with him.

NCIS

Tim was grateful to get away from the office after everyone’s strange behavior. He rushed home to his apartment in Silver Spring for a quick shower and to change clothes. He figured that whether or not Riley intended tonight to be a date, meeting at a bar usually called for casual clothes. In that spirit he chose to wear jeans, a white button-down shirt and a leather jacket. After checking his appearance in the mirror for the umpteenth time, he grabbed his Porsche keys and drove speedily to the bar even though he was already going to be at least fifteen minutes early. He parked on the street and decided to wait in the car until it was closer to 10 PM when he was supposed to meet Riley.

At 9:55, he saw Riley drive up in a large, black Dodge pickup truck and park across the street. As McGee hoped, Riley was also wearing casual clothing. He wore his black leather jacket with the blue stripes, a t-shirt, and jeans that accentuated his short, muscular frame. He took a deep breath and stepped out just in time for Riley to notice him.

“Hey!” Riley called.

Tim saw Riley’s smile broaden as he approached, and noticed Riley looking him over as well. He felt his face betray him with a flush and couldn’t hold back a smile of his own. “Hey, Riley! How are you?”

“Glad to be done work! I think I need that drink as much as you,” he replied as they walked into the bar. “Wanna split something? I’m starving and this place has killer wings.”

Tim shrugged curiously. “Sounds good.”

They sat themselves at a booth and placed their orders. Tim ordered a simple beer, but Riley went for a Jack Daniels to accompany the wings. When their drinks arrived, Riley held his tumbler up.

“To another week survived,” he toasted over the sound of the bar music.

Tim smiled and clinked their glasses together. “To not being on call, either.”

Riley moaned in approval and took a sip of his drink. “So did Gibbs give you any more trouble today?”

Tim shook his head. “Thankfully no, and neither did the computer. I’m sure there’ll be something wrong by the end of next week, though.”

“Oh, of course!” Riley sarcastically agreed. “Wouldn’t be work if something didn’t go wrong. There’s no rest for us computer wizards.”

“Where did you learn about computers?”

“Stanford. Got my Bachelor’s and Master’s together in five years. Majored in Computer Science.”

Tim’s eyes slightly widened. “Wow, I’m impressed. That takes dedication to get the Masters that quickly. Did you join NCIS right out of college?”

“Not quite, for a while I worked with a software company that helped develop AFIS interfaces and databases. Ironically that’s also where I learned to hack better than I did in college,” he admitted with a sly grin.

Tim felt relaxed, and could see that Riley felt the same. Whatever tonight was, it was going well. When their wings arrived, Riley ordered them both a second round of drinks and continued his story through a mouthful.

“Anyway, they loaned me out to NCIS to help deploy a major software update, and I ended up being offered a job in the Cyber division. After a while, I wanted to try my hand at being a field agent, and after qualifying I found myself on Gibbs’ team. How about you?”

Tim quickly swallowed what he was chewing to reply. “Johns Hopkins and MIT for my degrees. After FLETC I was working in Norfolk, then got transferred to the DC Yard to do some network upgrades. I helped the team with a couple of field cases and got a real taste for it. Gibbs was impressed, and he made my transfer permanent.”

“ _Rule Five: Don’t waste good._ ”

“Still remember the Gibbs rules? Nice,” Tim commented and licked barbecue sauce off his thumb.

Riley hummed in agreement. “Good rules,” he mumbled through his food.

“So why did you leave for the FBI?”

Riley’s smile slowly disappeared. He looked down and away for a moment, then he swallowed and hesitantly replied, “I, uh… just had a lot going on. My dad had been sick for a while with cancer, and when he died I just needed some time out of the field and a change of scenery. I was always good at cryptology and it didn’t have as much pressure. I eventually went back to field work, but it was good to have a break.”

Tim could see sadness in Riley’s eyes but also something closer to regret with it. He wanted to reach out and put his hand sympathetically on Riley’s, but he still wasn’t sure if that was appropriate for this evening. Instead he tried to give as comforting a look as possible. “I’m sorry about your dad. You were close?”

Riley’s smile slightly returned as he remembered, “Yeah. He was great. My mom died when I was really little, so it was just us for as long as I could remember. He worked for a global investment company in New York, but he still managed to make time for me whenever he could. This one time he actually paused an accounting meeting just to help me with my math homework over the phone. He left me a little bit of money just to manage things after he died, but we decided to donate most of what he had saved to cancer charities.”

“Wow, that sounds great,” Tim commented with a hint of envy. “My dad and I never really got along, but he was in the Navy and he was gone a lot so it wasn’t too bad. He was pretty strict, and nothing was ever quite up to snuff for him. Mom finally decided she had enough when I was in college and left for Texas, so now it’s just me and my sister around here when Dad’s away.”

“You have a sister?” Riley asked, his smile returning.

“Yeah, Sarah. She’s in college now. What about you? Any siblings?”

“No. Probably would have if Mom hadn’t died, but I made siblings out of my friends.”

Tim nodded. He understood what a lonely childhood felt like and what it meant to have friends who were closer than family.

Riley took another sip of his drink and cleared his throat. “So, Tim, what about you? Who is Tim McGee when he’s not being a Special Agent?”

He wasn’t surprised by the question, he just wasn’t used to talking about his personal life too much. He tried to think of what he could admit without it sounding childish. “Erm… well, as you probably guessed I love computers, and I also like playing games online every now and then.”

“Just computers and video games?”

“Well, I do also write a bit, too,” he admitted. He wasn’t sure if he should talk about _Deep Six_ since he was used to being guarded about it around Tony and Ziva.

“Writing? Like story writing?” Riley asked with an interested smile. “That sounds cool! What about?”

“Crime stories, actually. It kinda helps let it out at the end of the day, if that makes any sense.”

“Makes perfect sense, Tim,” he replied and downed the last few drops of his drink. “We all need some way to express ourselves and process our lives. I’d love to read what you wrote.”

“Oh, that’s ok, it’s not really a big deal. We should probably pay the check,” Tim quickly tried to deflect.

“What? Why not?”

“It’s just…” Tim wasn’t quite sure how to explain. Tony and Ziva’s judgement was forced upon him unexpectedly, but he was suddenly quite nervous about Riley’s opinion more so than the opinions of professional critics. “I dunno, it’s probably not your kind of story.” He started to take a drink, hoping that he could comment on it afterward and change the subject.

Riley eyed him suspiciously. “What’s wrong?” He lowered his voice and bumped his eyebrows. “Is it dirty?”

Tim snorted into his beer. “No! No, it’s not like that. I mean, there’s definitely a bit of romance in there, but…”

“Come on, you can tell me,” Riley nudged with an enticing smile.

Riley’s hand was now so close to Tim’s on the table that Tim could almost feel them touching. Tim flushed and his heart beat shot up.

“Ok,” Tim finally consented. “I’m just a bit embarrassed because I used people from work to make my characters. Tony and Ziva are still teasing me about it. I didn’t really plan on people from work actually reading it.”

“Wait, you mean you’ve actually been published? Like, mainstream published?” Riley’s mouth suddenly fell open. “Oh my god! Now it makes perfect sense!”

“What do you mean?” Tim asked nervously.

“Well, I couldn’t figure out how you got into One Club as a guest, and I also saw the Porsche outside and figured you just got paid _much_ better than me, but now it makes sense! Your book must’ve done really well.”

Tim smiled humbly. “A little, yeah.”

“So why are you embarrassed?”

Tim wasn’t sure exactly how to answer that question, so he just shrugged.

Riley rolled his eyes and put his hand on Tim’s forearm. “I promise, no harsh judgement from me. I love reading books, and I love reading from new authors. What’s it called?”

Tim’s heart fluttered at the contact, and he stammered. “It’s uh… erm… uh…” He flushed with embarrassment for forgetting the name of his own book. “Uh, _Deep Six,_ ” he finally blurted out.

Riley removed his hand from Tim’s arm and reached into his pocket. He fiddled with his BlackBerry for a moment, making a note of the book. “Alright. I’ll be sure to grab a copy. Don’t worry,” he replied to Tim’s nervous expression, “I’m a very easy book critic.”

Tim chuckled anxiously. “Ok, if you’re sure. So that’s what you do in your spare time? Read books? You don’t go to the gym every night or play any sports?” he asked while anxiously eying Mathis’ muscles and noting the absence of his own.

“I go to the gym occasionally,” he explained while pocketing his phone. “But honestly I only look this bulky because of that assignment. I keep in shape enough to be able to run well and lift what I need, nothing hardcore like the training I had to do for this. When it’s cold I love to curl up with a good book. During the spring, summer and fall if I’m not on a computer I’m usually outside.”

“I love being outside,” Tim added. “The youth ranger troop I volunteer for goes out camping every now and then during the summer, and I really enjoy it.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve been camping since I was a kid. Outside I mostly just do things like target shooting, swimming, taking rides on my motorcycle…" Riley hummed happily. “They make work just evaporate.”

“You ride a motorcycle? That must be interesting in DC traffic.”

Riley chuckled. “No, not in the city.” He paused pensively for a moment before continuing, “I go up to this place in the mountains of Virginia. The mountain roads are really beautiful to ride around especially in the fall.”

“I don’t think I could ever ride on a motorcycle,” Tim admitted with a shudder.

“Why not?” Riley asked in surprise.

“They’re so unsafe, and I’m not good at that kind of coordination. I probably wouldn’t even be able to keep one upright.”

Riley gave him a curious look. “You can do anything you want if you set your mind to it. Just because it takes a little practice doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. And believe me, the freedom you feel on a bike is definitely worth it.”

Tim shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable and out of place. Looking into Riley’s eyes, he felt himself being locked in again but this time wasn’t sure if he wanted to be. He had felt better knowing Riley wasn’t interested in having a chiseled body, but he was still good-looking, daring, and confident, all of which Tim always aspired to be but didn’t feel like he was. They seemed to have a few common interests, but he still felt like Riley was out of his league.

Riley seemed to have sensed the tension and stood up. He dropped some money on the table and nodded towards the door. “Wanna walk off the drinks?”

Tim shrugged, appreciating the distraction from his current train of thought. “Sure.”

They walked down the street talking about recent events at work. Riley’s nose had only a small fracture and didn’t require surgery, but he was teased at work for both his bruised appearance and for how well he played the part of a stripper. He had spent the last week tracking bank accounts and locations based on the data stolen from One Club. So far he had made three arrests, but none of the subjects were major players in OMNI. Tim tried to relax as Riley spoke, but he still felt slightly awkward because of their earlier interaction and nervous because Riley was walking a little closer to him than he expected.

“So you know how people get tattoos when they join gangs and stuff, right?” Riley asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, OMNI uses tattoos to identify and designate its members just like those gangs, but the people they recruit could be anyone so they use UV ink for their tattoos to make them less obvious.”

“UV ink? So it only shows under an ultraviolet light?”

“For the most part, yes. When it’s fresh, you still see some red scarring around the tattoo. After a while it fades and is pretty difficult to see. The guys we caught must’ve had theirs for a least a few months.”

“What’s the tattoo of?”

“You know the computer standby symbol?” Riley drew it in mid-air with his finger. “The circle with the line going through the top?”

“Yeah, pretty much everything with a power button has that on it.”

“Well it’s that, and then there’s a numbered designation next to it. These guys had it on their wrists. I almost didn’t notice it. Their members could be basically anyone and their employer wouldn’t notice the tattoo unless they looked really closely and knew what they were looking for.”

“I wonder if Abby would get any tattoos like that…” Tim speculated and imagined Abby lighting up when she’d turn on a UV light to look at a blood stain.

“Doubtful. It’s got some weird chemicals in it to make it glow, and I couldn’t see her putting that in her skin for anything more than a couple of small lines. I know I wouldn’t, and that’s saying something. You’ve already seen mine.”

Tim peeked behind Riley at his back, and through his jacket he envisioned the griffin tattoo he saw at the club. His eyes followed the griffin’s tail as it wound down the skin of Riley’s back to his waist. Tim wondered how much further down it went, but then realized he was staring and shook himself out of it. He hoped Riley hadn’t noticed. “Uh, yeah from a bit of a distance. I didn’t really get a good look, though,” he lied.

Riley smiled knowingly. “Yeah, well, a bunch of black ink is one thing but I’d never get that much UV ink if any at all. It’s very rare and most artists don’t use it.”

“Well if it’s rare, can’t you track it by whoever buys the ink?” Tim suggested.

“Already tried. Found an anonymous shell company buying some, but the trail got cut off at the shipping address.”

Tim shrugged. “Well hey, I’m sure you’ll get another lead.”

Riley blushed a slight pink tint, but then looked up and gasped. They were stopped right outside an arcade that looked like it was bustling. “Aw man, I haven’t gone to an arcade to actually play something in a while. You know this place?”

“Uh… yeah, it’s… pretty cool but I don’t come here that often,” Tim stammered, trying to save face and not seem too childish.

Two teenagers came out of the arcade, each holding large strings of arcade tickets. One of them looked at the two agents, and started laughing.

“Hey, McGaminator!” he called. “I’m gonna beat your Galaga score!”

“In your dreams, Frost!” Tim called reactively, then instantly froze realizing he just called out a teenager in front of Riley.

Riley turned to him slowly with a greatly amused smile that Tim could tell was desperately trying to hold back a laugh at his expense. “Care to revise that _‘don’t come here that often’_ statement, _McGaminator_?”

Tim groaned at his night’s peak embarrassing moment and tried to hide his flushing face with his hands.

A small yelp of Riley’s laugh escaped his lips, but he leaned in close to Tim. “You worry too much about what other people think sometimes. Come on, let’s get in there.”

Tim could sense how close Riley was, which made his heart thump heavily in his chest. When Riley moved away towards the building, Tim took a deep breath. _‘Relax! He doesn’t seem to care that you’re a geek. He designed a game around Risk, remember? Stop being so self-conscious.’_ His mind chased itself in circles as they entered the arcade and looked around for an interesting game. _‘He’s been standing really close. And that hand on my arm? Maybe we are on a date. But no, he wouldn’t date me. He even said that kiss was just for work. But his eyes…’_

“Tim!” Riley called, waving his hand in front of Tim’s face.

Tim snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. They were standing in front of a large, two-person shooter game with two screens.

“Wanna play?” Riley nodded towards it.

“Oh, yeah sure. I actually haven’t played this in ages.” He took up a position in front of the right screen and tested the weight of the game’s pistol in his hand.

“I used to love this one. I was able to run both screens at once for a little while,” Riley added as he fed quarters into the slot.

Tim squeezed the trigger to select his character and felt the toy gun kick back gently with the shot. “I thought about trying it but never got around to it. Kinda thought it’d look weird.”

Riley smirked. “You and thinking.” After a moment he winced slightly with a hiss and rubbed his ribs.

Tim looked worriedly at him when he heard the wince. “You ok?”

Riley nodded it off. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s play.”

They started the first round. With their cooperative shooting skill, they easily swept through the first round. As the second round started, Riley grunted and leaned against the gun stand.

Tim moved to him and grabbed his arm. “Riley! What is it?”

“Just a cramp. Here, keep going,” he shoved his gun into Tim’s hand and backed away.

“What?” Tim started to put the guns down.

Riley straightened up immediately and smiled smoothly. “Oh look, all better! And now you have both guns!”

Tim’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

Riley giggled and snapped his fingers towards the screen. “Go, go! Both guns!”

“RILEY!” Tim protested as he looked back at the screens and raised both guns awkwardly. “Riley I can’t-”

“Yes you can! Just do it! _Use the Force_! Stop thinking you can’t and just go!” Riley urged him on.

Tim struggled to find the balance between the two sides, but eventually he started focusing on one screen at a time. He’d fire three or four shots on one before turning to the other and repeating. It took him longer to progress through the round, but with each kick of the pistol in his hand he began to feel like an agent in his book. He slowly gained confidence and fluidity in his movements and became increasingly accurate in his shots. Before long, the enemies began piling up against him on each screen and it was getting harder to divide his time.

“Uh… Riley I may need you. Getting a little outnumbered here,” he called.

Riley jumped in and put his hand over Tim’s to take hold of the pistol. Tim missed three shots because he looked down at the fingers sliding over his. They were smooth and cool to the touch, raising the hairs up Tim’s arm. Tim released the gun once Riley had control, but his face betrayed him with a shade of red from the contact. They took their professionally-trained stances and swiftly cleared out the level.

When they had a moment between levels, Tim had an incredulous smile on his face. “I can’t believe you faked me out with a cramp. Couldn’t you have just given me the second gun?”

“Would you have taken it?” Riley asked, though seemingly already knowing the answer.

Tim opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by a teen boy watching them.

“Are you guys secret agents?”

Riley chortled and flushed slightly at the question. “Well, I do work for the FBI.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “THAT’S SO COOL!” He turned to call out to his friends. “Guys, come here! This guys are real live secret agents and they are owning this game! You gotta see this!”

A group of girls stopped playing as they overheard. “Wait really? You do this for real?”

Tim started, “Well not exactly thi-”

He was interrupted by the start of the game. They both took up their stances again and started shooting. Gradually, more kids came over to watch in awe as the adults shot with precision never-before seen at the arcade. Some kids shouted out instructions and encouragements to them as they played.

Riley looked around briefly and chuckled. “Seems I can’t play any games with you without attracting an audience.”

Tim laughed but kept his focus on the screen.

One boy shouted, “Go back-to-back like they do in the movies!”

They exchanged unsure grins and both snickered at the idea, but then the boy got a few of the kids to start chanting “Back-to-back” over and over again.

Tim was unsure, but Riley smiled at him and turned his back to Tim in preparation, firing with his outstretched right hand. Tim nervously bowed to the peer pressure and pressed his back against Riley’s, using only his left hand to support the plastic gun. Scattered cheers and laughs came from the onlookers as they held their epic pose.

He started smiling more and more as he felt Riley’s back brush against him. He was continuing to clear his screen of enemies when he suddenly felt a light contact on his right hand. He wasn’t sure what he felt until he felt it again. It was light, gentle, and smooth. Then it dawned on him. _‘That’s Riley! He’s touching my hand!’_ Tim’s heart did summersaults in his chest. He missed most of the shots he was making as he felt each of Riley’s fingers brush up against his. _‘Could this just be accidental? What do I do?!’_

He slowly opened up space between his index and middle finger to see what Riley would do. His breath was caught in his chest as he waited for the contact on his fingers. His eyes widened as he felt two of Riley’s fingers slide against his on either side of his index finger. They applied just a light bit of pressure as if Riley was also testing the waters. Tim’s breath hitched again as he lightly squeezed, then he exhaled when he felt Riley squeeze back. _‘He meant to do it. We’re on a date. This is a date,’_ he thought quickly to himself. Riley didn’t move their hands together entirely, but their four fingers weaved loosely together as they continued shooting back-to-back.

Tim’s inability to focus caused his character to be killed and costed them the game. Their audience groaned in disappointment, as did Riley. But when Tim saw the smile Riley wore on his face and the look in his eyes as he turned towards him, Riley seemed much too happy to actually be disappointed. Tim’s heart was racing in his chest, but he couldn’t stop smiling. As the kids around them dispersed, they walked out of the arcade without another word until they reached the outside.

Riley laughed to himself as they slowly walked back to their cars. “Heh, _‘don’t come here that often’_ my ass! You certainly shoot like you know your way around a FPS.”

Tim chuckled in amusement. “Ok, yes I do like to go to the arcade. Truthfully, my best game is Galaga. You seemed to impress those kids though.”

“Yeesh,” Riley shuddered. “Kids make me nervous. I never know what I’m supposed to do or how I should act around them and I just feel so awkward, so I just go with whatever they want until I can get out of the situation.”

“You mean like fake a cramp?” Tim jabbed playfully.

“Oh, come on!” Riley nudged him with his shoulder but kept close as they walked. “That was not for them, it was for you. You totally enjoyed playing both screens like that and you wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t trick you.”

Tim began counting on his fingers, “First you trick nightclub security with a decoy memory card while the real one goes out the door _in my mouth_ , which I never would’ve thought of by myself, then you fool me into disabling my own server in _Risk_ , and then you fake a cramp just so I’d dual-wield pistols in an arcade game. Any more tricks up that sleeve of yours?”

Riley smiled bashfully at the ground and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well if you really want the truth, I may have slightly let you win that _Risk_ game.”

Tim’s mouth hung open. “What? Why?”

Riley shrugged. “I wanted to buy you a drink! What, you really thought I’d let you steamroll over me like that?”

"After all you've pulled tonight, I'm surprised you didn't just ask."

Riley shrugged. "Where's the fun in that?"

Tim smiled and his blush turned three shades darker. He felt the question looming over them and was waiting for one of them to actually come out and ask it. They reached Riley’s truck where they both absentmindedly stared at each other. Riley chewed his bottom lip and Tim fiddled with his pockets.

“I had fun tonight,” Riley broke the silence.

“Me too.” Tim awkwardly looked at him. “I’m um…” _‘Just ask, you moron!’_ “Is- was this a… date? I mean, our hands… we kinda…”

Riley’s smile twisted into an anxious grimace. “Yeah… yeah I think that could constitute a date. Is that ok?”

“Yeah,” Tim replied, committing himself to what just happened.

Riley’s smile returned and his eyes glowed. He reached out and took Tim’s hand in his, weaving their fingers together.

Tim wasn’t used to the contact in his hand, but already enjoyed it and couldn’t stop smiling. “Maybe… we can do it again?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Riley quietly replied.

“Only I want a rematch in _Risk_ , and no throwing the game this time and no more tricks.”

“Okay, okay,” Riley laughed. “You like take-out?”

“Absolutely!”

“Ok, well I’m busy this weekend and next week will probably be overflowing as usual, so how about maybe next weekend you bring your computer over and we have that rematch over some Japanese?”

Tim grinned and nodded. “That sounds perfect.”

“I’ll call you after I’ve read your book, _Mister Author_ ,” Riley teased as he slowly backed away, released Tim’s hand and headed into his truck.

Tim remembered he had a question in the back of his mind and quickly tapped on the truck’s window.

The windows lowered and Riley greeted him again with a smile. “Did I forget something?”

“I meant to ask you, what were you and Abby talking about in Sign Language last week in the squad room?”

Riley blushed and stifled a chuckle. “She said, ‘You already like him.’”

Tim sighed happily and waved goodbye as Riley drove away. When he got into his own car, he thought to himself, _‘Next weekend.’_


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Hello all, I'm starting to send out more chapters per week just because I know a lot of people are stuck at home and could use some more stuff to read. Please be safe and thank you again so much for reading. Enjoy!

NCIS

Tim sat in front of his typewriter, barely looking at the page as he typed freely. His jazz music sang softly through his speakers, filling but not blaring through his apartment. The apartment was small, but for Tim’s purposes it was the perfect size. His white-and-wood kitchen had only a small bit of counter space, but it had a cutout in the wall with a ledge where he placed to chairs for him and a guest to sit and eat. The living room was divided into two parts by a wooden bookshelf, with his electronics workstation and computer desk on one side and his writing desk, typewriter, and vinyl player on the other. What he lacked in living room furniture he made up for in the bedroom with a king-sized bed and overstuffed lounge chair. The bathroom was a reminder of the how small the rest of the apartment was, but since Tim rarely had guests he didn’t feel that the space was cramped at all.

It was Sunday evening and Tim was anxiously waiting on a call from Riley to hear what he thought about Tim’s book. He let his nervous energy flow onto the page and into a scene that he might use for his next book, _Rock Hollow_. The book had been in-progress for a few months despite pressure from his publisher, but Tim had put the book on hold after its early chapters resulted in multiple murders by an obsessed fan. He decided to scrap the early chapters out of guilt for the victims, though he wanted to keep the rest of the plot.

His imagination formed the character of FBI Agent Ryan Matthews, a rough-and-tumble agent who stole the attention of the Forensic Specialist, Amy Sutton, away from Special Agent McGregor. He didn’t intend to actually integrate Riley’s caricature into the final publication, but the idea was in his mind and he enjoyed writing it out.

He was startled out of his writing stupor by the ringing of his cell phone such that he nearly knocked his coffee mug over. Taking a breath he looked at the caller ID, and after reading “Riley Mathis” on the screen he had to take multiple deep breaths to calm himself. “Alright, he said he's an easy critic, he won’t hate it. He won’t hate it.” He answered the phone and braced himself by closing his eyes and holding his breath. “Hello?”

_“Oh. My. GAWD! I loved it!”_

Tim’s heart leapt and he sighed with relief.

_“‘L.J. Tibbs,’ oh man! Gibbs must’ve gotten a real kick out of that.”_

“Not so much a kick as much as a head-slap,” Tim corrected and rubbed his head where he could almost still feel his punishment.

_“I’m sure ‘Tommy’ and ‘Lisa’ had similar reactions?”_

“Worse.”

_“Aw, that sucks. I don’t know Ziva that well, but I bet Tony must’ve pranked you hard to earn that role.”_

“Not unless you count putting superglue on my keyboard or picking the lock on my apartment door so he and another agent could get a look at my underwear, amongst other things.”

_“Wait, he actually broke into your apartment to see you in your underwear? Wow, he’s even more forward than I am about getting your pants off.”_

Tim blushed. He was definitely attracted to Riley, but they had yet to talk about anything overtly sexual. He felt himself getting tongue-tied and he stammered, “Yeah- I- he- um… we… weren’t…” He thought he heard a muffled laugh come from the other end of the phone, but it quickly subsided.

_“So what are you up to?”_ Riley asked with clear signs of mirth still in his voice.

Tim’s tongue regained traction with a new train of thought. “Not a whole lot, just a bit of writing. What about you?”

_“Well now that I just finished the book, not a whole lot. I’m back in DC and have pretty much the whole evening to myself. Do you… think it’s too soon to bump up our second date?”_

Tim smiled and chewed his lower lip. “I don’t think that’d be a problem. What did you have in mind?”

_“I don’t know. My idea of a quiet night in involves sitting and reading, but that probably doesn’t sound all that exciting to you.”_

“It actually sounds quite nice, but…” he looked around his apartment, “it would really only work if I had a couch.”

_“Yeah, there’s a chaise and a couple of chairs at my apartment but no couch. I don’t exactly host the team’s Superbowl party or movie night.”_

Tim perked up with an idea. “Hey, movie night. Let’s see a movie.”

_“I could go for that. Anything in particular?”_

“I’m flexible. What kind of movie are you in the mood for?”

_“Something that I don’t have to think about, maybe something retro?”_

Tim’s heart fluttered at the suggestion and he grinned. “Alright, I’ll start looking. I know of a theater that does some classic movies near me.”

_“Cool. Do you just want to meet there and we’ll see whatever’s playing?”_

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll text you the address and the movie time.”

_“I’ll be waiting!”_   
  


Tim’s grin was stuck on his face as he ended the call. He padded over to his computer and looked up a theater he knew would occasionally play older movies. The website showed times for a screening of the original _The War of the Worlds_ movie for later that night, so Tim quickly booked two tickets and messaged Riley with the address and time of the movie. While the tickets printed, he flung himself into the shower to get ready for later. His mind raced with questions. _‘We’re going to be nearby. Should I invite him over? It’s our second date, is that how it’s done? He said he wants to get my pants off, or something like that.’_ He looked down at his chest. He didn’t consider himself pudgy, but he definitely felt self-conscious about the few pounds he carried especially when he remembered Riley’s muscled body bared on the stage. _‘He likes you! Just go with it!’_ one voice said. _‘Hell no! Hit the gym first for a few years then you might be ready,’_ another argued. He shook out both voices and tried to think clearly. _‘Play it safe, no sex tonight. The apartment’s barely clean anyway.’_

He ended his shower and immediately fell into his second dilemma of trying to figure out what to wear. The shirts in his closet were mostly button-down and either white or gray. He had a few tan suits that he could wear so he wouldn’t appear as black-and-white, but he wasn’t sure what Riley would be wearing and didn’t want to overdress. He remembered that Riley wore a jeans and a t-shirt last time, and figuring a movie date would be just as casual he dug through his drawer to find a gray MIT t-shirt that wasn’t stained or raggedy to wear with a pair of jeans and a blue jacket. With a few nervous minutes to spare, he quickly tidied around the apartment just in case he wanted to invite Riley in for coffee. _‘He did ask me out on a second date after only two days. That has to count for something.’_ He took one last look in the mirror, then after a deep breath he went out the door.

NCIS

Tim sprinted into the theater to avoid the start of the rain that was quickly rolling in. The theater was positioned inside a small plaza not far from Tim’s apartment in Silver Spring. Riley was already waiting inside but was talking on his phone when Tim entered. Tim’s instinct served him well again as Riley was wearing similar casual clothes. He had on a pair of khaki cargo shorts, a green shirt with the logo of an Irish pub, and the same black leather jacket with parallel blue stripes running across the shoulders. His face lit up when he looked up at Tim.

“Ok, I’ll take care of it and report tomorrow,” Riley muttered into the phone before hanging up and turning to Tim. “Hey!”

Tim smiled back when he saw Riley’s glowing eyes. “Hey, Riley. How are you?”

“I’m alright, just got a call from work,” he replied with a roll of his eyes. “I swear, I’m never _not_ on-call.”

Tim’s smile dropped and he unconsciously pouted his bottom lip. “Oh no… You don’t have to go in now, do you?”

Riley’s smile broadened when he caught Tim’s pout. “No, no. Just a bit of research I have to look over before work tomorrow, nothing too serious. So, what are we seeing?”

Tim’s lips reverted back to their smile with relief. He pulled out the folded printout of the tickets and handed them to Riley. “ _The War of the Worlds_ from 1953, one of my favorite classics.”

“Well since you got the tickets, I’ll get us popcorn,” Riley offered while they started walking towards the ticketing counter.

They got their popcorn and drinks and made their way into the theater.

“Are we in the wrong theater?” Riley asked as he scanned the nearly empty room.

“Nope,” Tim explained, “The new _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie just came out. This is the usual retro movie crowd after a new big movie release.”

“Ah, I see,” Riley replied with a slight snicker. “I suppose you _don’t come here that often_ either?”

Tim sighed and hung his head, but still smiled. “That’s never going away, is it?”

“Never,” Riley laughed as they found seats in the middle of the theater.

“Ok, well I freely admit that I love movies like this. I’m a geek just like Tony says,” he admitted.

Riley laid his right hand down over Tim’s left on the armrest. “Well you’re in good company. I can out-geek the best of them with _Star Wars,_ _Star Trek_ and _Lord of the Rings_.”

Tim looked around quickly to see if anyone was nearby, then rotated his hand and slipped his fingers in between Riley’s. “We’ll see about that. Kirk or Picard?”

Riley scoffed. “Picard, please. Kirk can’t make it through an episode without losing his shirt, but Picard regained individuality after being assimilated by the Borg. No contest. When did Tasha Yar die?”

“Basic trick question,” Tim answered smugly. “She was killed in ‘Skin of Evil,’ but in ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ an alternate timeline’s version of her transferred over and she was captured by the Romulans. She was killed after trying to escape with her half-Romulan daughter, Sela, who eventually confronted Picard. When was Boromir killed?”

“In the books he died in _Two Towers_ , but in the movies it was _Fellowship_. What was the name of Gandalf’s sword?”

“‘ _Glamdring_ , the Foe Hammer,’” Tim answered confidently. He tried to think of a much more outside question as more advertisements flashed on the screen. “Who is Mara Jade?”

Riley turned to him in disbelief. “For real? Luke Skywalker’s wife.”

“Dammit, was hoping to get you on that one,” Tim sighed.

“I have a feeling we could do trivia all night, but I’m trying not to think too much right now. Got a long week ahead of me,” Riley muttered with dread.

“Why? What’s up?”

“I can’t really talk specifics, but we just made a breakthrough linking some of the data to various people and we’re running with it.”

“At least you’re finding leads for your case,” Tim encouraged.

“Very true. Oh, here it goes,” Riley dropped his voice as the main theme for the movie came on.

Tim relaxed as the movie began and the lights dimmed. At first he was nervous about being intimate with Riley by holding hands in public, but holding Riley’s hand felt natural and like it was supposed to be there. _‘He started it. He’s interested in you. Relax.’_

Riley leaned in close and whispered, “You ever get that feeling where you enjoy old, cheesy CGI just because you’re so used to the new stuff?”

Tim turned his head and realized he was very close to Riley’s face. His heart skipped in his chest as their noses nearly touched and he forgot what he was going to say. Riley’s lips were only a few inches away and his eyes traveled from Tim’s down to his mouth. Tim’s mouth hung slightly open while he tried to remember what was on his mind and he could almost sense the heat and tension building between them. His brain finally clicked back on and he replied, “Definitely, but… um… I’m still looking forward to the _Transformers_ movie coming out. Don’t tell Tony that or he’ll fill my desk with action figures.”

Riley smiled and made a zipping motion with his fingers across his lips before turning back to the screen. Tim silently tried to take a deep breath and relax, but he was finding it difficult to breathe. He gently squeezed Riley’s hand, then felt Riley’s thumb brush across his skin down to his wrist and back up. Goosebumps shot up Tim’s arm and across his body, and once again he drew in an uneven but quiet breath. He flushed and smiled as he tried to calm himself.

Riley leaned in again, “Are you ok? I’ll stop.” He started to pull his hand away.

“No!” Tim quickly replied and squeezed Riley’s hand to keep it in place. “No, I’m fine. Great, actually.”

“You sure?” Riley asked.

He looked into Riley’s eyes and felt their magnetic pull. His breath hitched in his chest again, but he managed to whisper, “Yes. Stay.”

Riley smiled lightly and returned to watching the movie. For the rest of the movie, he only moved his hand to take a drink or help pass the popcorn over to Tim, but they both made sure their hands ended up together back on the armrest. Tim forgot how much he enjoyed physical contact with someone else, and Riley seemed to crave it. He was glad for the mostly-empty theater so he could be less self-conscious about holding Riley’s hand. Once the movie ended, they could hear the metallic spraying of rain on the theater’s roof.

“Damn,” Tim whispered.

“What?” Riley asked.

“The rain. I was hoping it would be done by now.”

Riley stood up and stretched. “I love the rain.”

Tim glanced curiously over at him as he got up and led the way out. “Why?”

“Why not? Storms are beautiful things,” Riley added as they stepped outside.

They stood under the awning of the theater as rain pelted down around them in sheets. The sky was dark with clouds, and the streetlights illuminated the puddles forming on the street. The few theater patrons from their screening sprinted across the parking lot through the rain.

Tim scanned the dark lot looking for his car. “It’s not so much that I don’t like rain, I mean I know nature needs it. Just sometimes it feels a little inconvenient, like when trying to get to your car and not be soaking wet when you get there.”

“It’s only inconvenient if you mind being soaking wet,” Riley added, then took Tim’s hand and pulled him into the downpour with him.

Tim blinked rapidly and hunched his shoulders as the cold drops spattered down on him. He looked expectantly for Riley’s next move, but all he did was stare back at him. “What? Why are we just standing here?”

Riley seemed unfazed by the rain beading on his leather jacket but dripping down his face. “Well, we haven’t decided where we’re going, and I wanted to try something with you.”

Tim’s face scrunched with confusion and discomfort as he felt a thick drop of rain hit him right in the forehead. “Could we do that where we’ll at least be somewhat dry?”

“Why not here? The world doesn’t stop existing just because it rains. Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“I said close your eyes, I want you to try something.”

“In the rain?” Tim asked, hoping Riley would change his mind.

“In the rain.”

Tim sighed and closed his eyes. “You get pneumonia a lot, don’t you?”

“Shush,” Riley ordered sarcastically and moved behind him.

Tim felt Riley’s hands on his shoulders turning him in a specific direction. His hands felt warm, but the pressure pushed the cold, wet fabric of Tim’s jacket and shirt against his skin, so the warmth was somewhat mitigated.

“Ok, open,” Riley commanded.

Tim opened his eyes. He saw the blankets of rain still coming down around him, but through it he saw a bus stop bench. It was concrete, missing a small chunk on one of the legs, and had a puddle on part of the seat. “Ok, what?”

“That bench, would you sit on it?” Riley asked.

“Probably not. It’d soak my pants right through.” He felt the cold of the rain seeping into his skin.

“Ok, now right in front of it at the curb, see that puddle?”

The puddle was part of a small river running down the curb to a drain. “Yeah.”

“Would you walk through that?”

“I’d probably walk around it.”

“Why?”

“So that I don’t ruin my shoes or grow fungus from it being wet and warm in my socks.”

Riley chuckled in amusement. “Alright, close your eyes again.”

Tim did as he was told. He felt the legs of his jeans stiffen and chill from the cold rain. The sleeves of his jacket started to feel warm but for the brief moment when another drop would hit and make it feel cold again.

Riley continued, “You are at the bottom of the ocean right now. You are entirely surrounded by water. Everything you’re wearing, everything you’re carrying is soaked all the way through. Accept it. Believe it.” As he spoke he slowly circled around to Tim’s front. “Just forget that any of it even matters. Strip away all your clothes, all the things you have to do, all the ways you box yourself in, and just listen to the sounds around you.”

Tim tried to listen to the rain and to the wind as it rushed around him. He could hear when a car pulled out of its spot and splashed its way down the other side of the lot. He started to hear the difference between where the rain hit close to the building and further away based on the sound. He also heard the sound of Riley’s steps as he moved closer, and the padded, gentle thuds of rain drops on their clothes. He felt the heat from Riley’s body for being so close, and he could feel his warm breath on his cool clothes. The din around him slowly seemed to fall away.

“The rest of the world is still there,” Riley whispered. “Think past the rain and the wind and see the world as it still is. Now, open your eyes.”

He opened his eyes. The bench lit by the streetlight was there, but it didn’t register as “wet” to Tim anymore. It was there as it usually was and would continue to be, and if he was already wet then it wouldn’t matter if he sat in it. The small stream running down the curb was exactly where it was supposed to be with the curvature of the road leading to a storm drain, and the asphalt underneath it was still there despite being veiled with water. He almost didn’t see the rain as it fell and almost didn’t feel the impacts of the drops except for their temperature. Looking around, he saw nobody close by. The theater, parking lot and surrounding shops were still around them, but it all seemed quiet and still.

“How do you feel?” Riley quietly asked, water dripping down his face.

Tim felt himself start to shiver as the cold on his face and shoulders seemed to worsen. “C-cold. My face feels cold.” He looked back down into Riley’s eyes that were fixed softly on his.

Riley slowly raised both of his hands and cupped Tim’s cheeks. Tim felt their warmth despite the wet cold dripping around them. They were soft and gentle on his face as they traced backward to wrap around his neck. Riley was so close to him now. His deep blue eyes were drawing Tim in again. The stare was intense with desire but calm and tender. Riley was eye-level to Tim’s neck, but as close as they were Tim barely noticed that he had to tilt his head down to look into Riley’s eyes. Tim saw a wet lock of Riley’s black hair pasted against his forehead, and before he understood why he was doing it he raised his hand to brush it up and away. He then slowly let his hand run down to Riley’s cheek and held it there. Their lips were inches away. Tim felt almost ready, but part of him needed to be sure.

Tim whispered, “I’d really like to kiss you.”

“Me too,” Riley replied, and slowly lifted himself with his toes.

Tim slid his arm around Riley’s waist and pulled him in the rest of the way until their lips finally met. He felt Riley’s fingers run up the back of his neck into his hair and pull him harder into the kiss. The water on Riley’s lips tasted fresh and sweet mixed with his own taste, and Tim hungrily pulled him closer to taste more as their lips parted and tongues met again. Tim felt the heat of their bodies together warming him up and didn’t even notice the rain anymore. They pulled gently at each other, each tasting and experiencing the other for what felt like the first real time. Riley slid his hand down Tim’s chest to his hips and pulled him as close as physically possible, which still didn’t feel close enough.

Tim’s hand slipped under Riley’s jacket and shirt and he felt the warm, damp, bare skin underneath. A jolt of need shot up his arm from the contact and he squeezed harder. Riley moaned lustfully into the kiss as he felt Tim’s hand on the small of his back. Their tongues danced gently between their mouths as their breathing grew ragged and desperate. Riley ground himself against Tim’s waist and chest.

“Tim,” he whispered, gently breaking the kiss and nuzzling his forehead against Tim’s.

“Riley…” Tim breathed. Looking into Riley’s eyes, he quickly made his decision and muttered, “Follow me.”

NCIS

Tim became aware of the rain again on his drive back home, but that didn’t change his mind about what he wanted. He remembered his doubts about his body from earlier that evening, but after being with Riley again he felt renewed and confident. He also kept remembering the look in Riley’s eyes just before they kissed. It was the same look he had in the club when they had first seen each other. Riley wanted him from the moment he saw him, and Tim had almost forgotten what it felt like to be wanted that way.

A pinch of guilt nagged at Tim’s insides. He hadn’t thought about if Riley was more of a top or a bottom, but it suddenly dawned on him that there could be a problem. Tim had been the top for men a few times before, but he had yet to bottom for anyone and he had felt like he was saving it for a more committed relationship. Until now, he had hoped that Gibbs would be the first to top him. Riley was not at any committed level yet, but Tim was now worried that he’d have to lie if Riley asked to top him tonight. He tried to push that feeling aside as he pulled into his parking spot. Just seeing Riley in the mirror walking towards him from his truck, Tim could feel his magnetic pull again. Without a doubt he wanted Riley tonight, and he didn’t want anything getting in the way.

Tim silently walked them upstairs and down the outdoor walkway to his apartment. He fumbled with his keys as he tried to unlock his door, but finally got the door open and led the way inside. Bright blue light from the outside reflected off the wooden floors to give just enough light to see their way around the apartment. Riley stepped through the door and pulled off his wet jacket while his eyes adjusted to the dark. Tim realized they’d be dripping water from their soaked clothes, so his first thought was to get them towels. He started to brush past Riley on his way to the bedroom, but Riley stopped him by grabbing his hand.

“Tim, wait…” he whispered gently.

Tim turned around and saw Riley’s face lit by the reflection of the outside light. He could see shadows of rain dripping down the window reflecting on his face. He paused to look at the bright blue eyes looking at him with concern. “What is it?”

Riley looked down at the floor cautiously then back up. “If you’re uncomfortable, just say so. I… sometimes rush things without thinking of other people.”

Tim took Riley’s cheek with one hand and with the other he returned the gentle squeeze of Riley’s hand. “I’m ok. A little nervous, I’ll admit, but…” his voice trailed off as he lost himself in Riley’s gaze.

“About what?”

“Well, you’re…” he paused as his hand roamed up Riley’s arm to his thick bicep. He gave a gentle squeeze, then looked down and continued, “… and I’m… just ok.”

Riley hooked his finger around Tim’s chin and lifted his face. He then nuzzled their noses together and whispered, “You’re beautiful.”

Their lips met slowly and gently this time. Riley’s hand slid down Tim’s damp t-shirt and slipped under the hem. His hands felt cool now and the contact tickled Tim’s skin, causing Tim to giggle into their kiss. They both smiled as their bodies pressed together. Riley started to peel Tim’s shirt from his body. Tim dropped his jacket and started pulling at Riley’s shirt. They paused as they each got stuck blindly removing their soaked shirts, but laughed when they finally escaped and rejoined their lips and bodies. Tim kissed his way down to Riley’s neck and collar. Riley moaned in approval and playfully nipped at Tim’s ear. Tim could just barely see the griffin tattoo on Riley’s back from the light shining in from outside. Up close, he could see the talons and claws appearing to dig into the skin as the griffin’s eagle head looked out. The body stretched down Riley’s spine parallel to the wings on each side. The tail began at the base of Riley’s back and wound below waistband. Tim traced his fingers lightly down the art until he found Riley’s shorts.

Riley smiled and whispered, “It doesn’t stop there, you know.”

“Oh, really?” Tim hummed curiously into the skin of Riley’s jaw.

Tim slowly backed them towards the bedroom. Riley pushed him backwards down onto the bed with an evil smile. Tim could see the 6-pack of Riley’s abs had faded slightly since his time on the stage, but Tim was more interested in what was on Riley’s back. Riley turned so that the light coming from the bedroom window would shine on his back and so Tim could see it, then he slowly slid his cargo shorts down. As they dropped they revealed a black jock strap exposing his buttocks. The griffin’s lion-like tail flowed down his left cheek and around to his thigh, curling towards his crotch and winding all the way around the thigh once with the tail ending on top.

Tim’s jaw dropped as he followed the ink. “Wow…”

Riley grinned at the response and walked slowly and seductively towards Tim. “What about you?” he asked while crawling up the bed and straddling himself over Tim’s crotch.

Tim didn’t hear the question as he was too distracted by the body on him. His hands ran up Riley’s thighs, his right hand tracing the ink, and his eyes were fixed on the tented underwear. His own stiffening cock strained against his jeans as Riley ground gently down onto him. He could tell that Riley had lost a little bit of muscle definition in his chest and arms, but the sight of the remaining muscle still made Tim’s mouth water with lust. He gasped as Riley pressed his hands against Tim’s chest and massaged upward.

Riley leaned down and brushed his lips up the left side of Tim’s neck and just under his ear. “You probably aren’t the tattoo type, are you?” he whispered before he nibbled gently at the flesh.

Tim took in a sharp breath and bucked his hips against Riley. His skin ignited under the pressure of Riley’s teeth, and while he heard that there was a question posed to him he had no idea what words even were at that moment.

Riley grinned satisfactorily. “Oh, my…” he whispered as he nuzzled their faces together. He ran a hand down the front of Tim’s jeans and felt the hard member straining beneath. “We need to get these off of you.”

Tim nodded rapidly in agreement. “Yes!”

Riley gripped him hard with his legs and rolled them both over so Tim was on top of him and still between his legs. Tim pressed down against him and kissed him desperately. Their hands found each other and gripped tightly until Tim released one to undo his belt buckle. He stood up for a moment to pull the jeans and his boxers off while Riley used the opportunity to remove his jock strap. Tim dug into his nightstand to find lube and a condom while getting an eyeful of Riley’s hardening organ. It was thicker than Tim’s though not quite as long. Riley drooled and chewed his lips looking at the long shaft of Tim’s cock. He crawled over to the end of the bed where Tim stood, grasped his hips, and took Tim into his mouth.

Tim groaned with pleasure and ran his fingers through Riley’s drying hair. He steadied himself by placing his other hand on Riley’s shoulder. Riley worked his hands down Tim’s thighs, kneading and squeezing as he swirled his tongue around Tim’s length. Tim slicked his middle finger with lube and gently worked it into the crack of Riley’s round cheeks. Riley moaned as Tim slowly slid his finger in circles around Riley’s entry. Riley kissed his way down Tim’s shaft and bucked his hips into Tim’s finger. Tim smiled at his eagerness and finally inserted his finger into Riley’s hole. Riley hissed in pleasure and ran his tongue up the vein of Tim’s shaft. Tim worked Riley’s entry until he felt it relax, then he applied more lube and inserted a second finger. Riley moaned louder than before and tore open the nearby wrapper to roll the condom onto Tim.

Riley moved to the side and laid his head against one of the pillows. Tim lowered himself between his lover’s legs and kissed him slowly. They ground their hips together while staring into each other’s eyes. Riley hooked his legs around Tim’s hips and pulled him close. Tim pressed the head of his cock against Riley’s hole, then looked at him as if asking permission.

“Please,” Riley begged.

He felt the muscles relax, so he leaned his hips forward and pushed his length slowly into Riley. Riley grunted and gripped Tim tightly with his hands and legs.

Tim nuzzled their faces together gently and paused his movements. “Are you ok?” he quietly asked.

“Yeah,” Riley breathed and nodded. “Don’t stop. Please.” He closed his eyes and arched his back as he pulled Tim closer with his legs.

Tim steadied himself with his hands on either side of Riley’s shoulders, and Riley had his arms around Tim’s back. Tim felt himself press fully into Riley and let them sit still for a moment to adjust. Riley chewed his bottom lip and smiled serenely. He slipped one of his hands down from Tim’s back and gently stroked himself, then squeezed Tim with his legs to start his movements. Tim took his cue and started a slow rhythm with his hips through Riley’s tightness. When he thrusted fully in, he saw Riley’s body jolt and his breath become uneven.

“Ungh…” Riley moaned. “Oh... that’s my…”

Tim thrust again and Riley’s eyes flashed open as he gasped.

“Oh, god, YES! Right there!”

Tim smiled at the fact that whatever he was doing, he was doing it well. He kept his thrusting slow but gradually started to increase the rhythm. “Riley… so tight…” he breathed.

Riley grappled Tim’s back with his free arm and pulled himself closer. Between thrusts he managed to whisper, “I’m not… going to… you’re hitting… my spot… please… more…”

Tim silenced him with a kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance as Riley pulled at him harder and Tim thrusted faster. Riley moaned louder into Tim’s mouth. Riley pumped his fist around his cock to the same rhythm of Tim’s thrusts. He felt himself approaching the edge of his orgasm but didn’t want to fly over it alone. Tim was struggling to hold himself back. He felt fire coursing through his veins and needed to release.

Riley pressed his forehead against Tim’s. “Are you close?” he asked raggedly.

“Yes, so close.” Tim huffed.

“With me, with me,” Riley repeated.

“Riley…”

“Tim… unh…”

“Ri… Riley… yes…”

“Tim… Please… with me… oh GOD I’m cumming!” Riley warned.

“RILEY!” Tim yelled as he slammed his body against Riley and started to convulse.

Riley bellowed out Tim’s name as his orgasm blasted through him and out onto their chests. Tim collapsed onto Riley and held him tightly as he felt himself pulse into the condom. They clutched at each other until their shaking subsided, each still struggling to catch their breath. They both felt damp again but from sweat instead of rain. Riley kissed at Tim’s cheek gently as he came down from his high. Tim shook himself back to sanity and looked up at Riley with an aloof smile. Riley lazily cupped his face again with his hand and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Tim kissed back, and then feeling bold he quietly laughed.

“What?” Riley asked with his own smile.

“Was this _just for work_ , too?” Tim asked sarcastically.

Riley’s brow scrunched in confusion. “Huh?”

“The first time you kissed me, you told me it was _just for work_ ,” Tim recalled with a grin. “I think I’m starting to doubt that.”

Riley snorted, which turned into a laugh as he brought a hand up to his face. “Ok, the memory card thing was actually for work. But the minute or two of making out before and after? That may have been a little bit beyond my job’s requirements, yes.”

Tim snickered and gently eased himself out from Riley. He padded through the darkness over to the bathroom where he discarded the condom and brought out a towel for Riley, who was still dazed and laying down on the bed. Tim crawled across the bed with the towel and began drying up Riley’s cum from their chests. Riley tugged on the towel to bring Tim closer and gave him another slow kiss.

Tim relished the kiss for a moment before propping himself on his side and running his finger down Riley’s body. He giggled again and in a sing-song voice he repeated, “ _Just for work…_ ”

“Alright,” Riley admitted with mock annoyance, “I probably could’ve slipped it into your pocket, but I couldn’t resist the chance to kiss a cute guy like you. Something about you told me you weren’t the usual snob celebrity that would be at One Club, and even if you were you’d at least taste good.”

Tim sniggered quietly to himself and flushed. He bit his lip to stop himself from saying what was on his mind.

“What?” Riley asked with mock insult. “I’m a sap. Sue me.”

“It’s not that,” Tim sputtered through his laugh. “It’s just…”

“What is it? Come on, tell me!”

Tim slipped his hand over Riley’s and they nuzzled closer. “Promise you won’t be mad?”

“I just had a great date and came while being fucked,” Riley declared smugly but sleepily. “Neither of those usually happen to me, especially in combination. The only thing that could ruin my mood right now is if you tell me you’re married.”

Tim grinned and shook his head, still chuckling. “No, I’m not married. But the first time I saw you… I… kinda thought you were a hooker.”

Riley’s jaw dropped, then he grabbed Tim’s arms and sleepily wrestled him down to the mattress. “A _hooker?!_ ”

Tim laughed. “You were stripping! And we were looking for a hooker that worked at the same place! It wasn’t a far stretch!”

Riley pinned down Tim’s arms and kissed him slowly. “I’ll make you a deal, I won’t tease you about the arcade or you calling me a hooker if you don’t tease me about making up an excuse to kiss you.” He gently released Tim’s arms and nuzzled down onto his chest.

Tim smiled and lowered his arms to hold Riley gently in place. “No, I think I want to milk this one a little bit first.”

Riley hummed into Tim’s chest and shut his eyes for a moment. Tim also found himself starting to doze off.

After a minute, Riley muttered, “You never answered my question.”

“Hm?”

“Do you have any tattoos? I haven’t given you my thorough examination yet.”

Tim smiled. “I had one, but I had it lasered off. It was a tattoo of a heart that said ‘Mom.’”

Riley chortled and cuddled closer. “Good call on the removal.”

Tim looked over to the clock and saw it was close to 9:30 PM. He felt relaxed and natural with Riley snuggled up to him, a level of intimacy Tim wasn’t used to achieving so quickly. He remembered Riley mentioned work earlier, but he wasn’t ready for the evening to end. He was happy that Riley didn’t ask to top and he felt better about the potential for their relationship, but he still felt slightly conflicted whenever he thought about Gibbs. He brushed it off, hoping that spending more time with Riley would help him make up his mind. He figured Riley staying the night would be a little too soon, but he looked so peaceful where he lay on Tim’s chest.

“How long can you stay?” Tim asked quietly.

Riley hummed again. “Not sure, I have work to do for tomorrow. What time is it?”

“9:30.”

“I have about an hour or so before I really should go. Do you want me to stay until then?”

Tim ran his fingers through Riley’s hair. “Mmmhm… Stay right here.”

Riley kissed Tim’s chest and squeezed his hand. Tim stayed still and listened to the sound of Riley’s slow breathing while rain tapped gently against the window.


	6. Chapter 5

NCIS

The last drag of AJ’s cigarette did little for his nerves. He leaned back against the abandoned brick building and watched the smoke drift out of his mouth up towards the dark, overcast sky. He hadn’t missed making late night deals since winter carried an earlier cover of darkness, but this was his first solo job so 1:30 AM would have to do. He wished Marquez had let him carry a shipment before Valentine’s Day so he’d have a little extra cash for his girl, but he had only just proved himself to the boss and didn’t get to choose his runs. He quickly felt inside his jacket for the small package for the fourth time, and once again breathed a hushed sigh of relief.

While pulling his hand out from his jacket, his wrist brushed against the zipper and he hissed in pain. He examined the pink, inflamed skin outlining the nearly invisible marks on his wrist. The tattoo didn’t hurt much when he got it, but the itch was nearly unbearable. He still wasn’t quite sure who this ‘OMNI’ group was or how they fit into the gang’s dealings, but if he wanted to be a bigger deal in the gang, he needed to get their tattoo. He checked his phone and decided that 1:28 was close enough. He walked from the partially lit street down the darkened alley next to the abandoned building as per his instructions. He heard uneven footsteps and his heart jumped. He then inched his hand towards the gun in the waistband of his jeans.

Someone was limping towards him in the dark. They wore a baggy hoody and raggedy cargo pants. He heard a man’s raspy voice call out, “You got any change? Just some spare change?”

“Nope, just a number,” he dutifully replied.

“Oh?” the man replied. “And what’s that?”

“You first.”

“Oh no,” the voice took a nasty tone, “that’s not how it works out here.”

AJ’s heart was pounding in his chest. He visibly wrapped his hand around the handle of his gun and took what he thought was a tough stance. “I’ve got twelve friends here that say different.”

The man stopped for a moment, then laughed a wry and fearless laugh. “Alright, relax newbie. Just makin’ sure you paid attention.” He lowered his hood and resumed walking towards AJ without the limp.

AJ removed his hand from his gun and brought out a small flashlight from his pocket. The man held out his right wrist and lifted his sleeve. AJ switched on the light, and it emitted a bright violet light that revealed glowing ink on the other man’s skin. AJ checked for the glowing symbol that he’d seen on so many electronics, then read the designation “0276” next to it and nodded satisfactorily. They then repeated the process with his own wrist, which showed “0651,” until the other man nodded.

He pocketed the light and pulled out the small package of tightly packed cocaine from his pocket and held it in front of him. The other man pulled out a small stack of bills wrapped in a rubber band and held it out.

The man spoke first. “It gets easier the more you d-”

He was cut off when the sound of two fired shots split the darkness. AJ felt sharp pain and pressure pierce the side of his neck and stumbled against the wall of the alley. He saw the other man stumble backward, but his instincts still told him he was being betrayed. He dropped the package, pulled out his gun, and through his blurring vision he squeezed the trigger until both he and the man fell down to the ground. AJ’s head split painfully from the loud bangs of his gun and from the piercing feeling in his neck. As he saw the blood pooling around the other man’s body, he slowly reached his left hand up to his neck and felt a metal dart sticking out.

He heard footsteps quickly approaching, but had fallen on his gun and his muscles would no longer move to help him defend himself. He felt a hand grasp the dart in his neck and pull it out with a sharp sting, then he saw the attacker bend down to extract another dart from the dead man’s neck. It was too dark to make out any features of the attacker, but from the light at the end of the alley he could tell it was a man and he was wearing a motorcycle helmet, black jacket and gloves. The attacker then examined the body, and AJ thought he heard him mutter, “Shit, one down.” AJ couldn’t lift his head to see what was happening, but the man moved over to AJ, extracted the gun from under his limp body and disassembled it. Pieces of the gun and fell to the ground along with the individual bullets from the magazine. Afterwards, the man moved over near the wall and AJ heard a soft hum. He heard the sound of a pocket knife being opened and the ripping of plastic, and then a voice whispered “Got it.” He was then surprised when the attacker placed the opened bag of cocaine gently on the ground in front of AJ before running out of the alley.

AJ spiraled in and out of consciousness, but his muscles gradually agreed to start working again. He knew there was no going back to Marquez after this. That was what he signed up for when he agreed to be inducted into OMNI. There was no forgiveness, just praying for mercy if he got caught. He needed to run, leave the city, even the state. He needed money, and for the first time in a while he actually had some right in front of him. He saw where the buyer’s money had rolled under a dumpster. He crawled over to retrieve the rolled-up cash, then slowly went over to take the package and found its plastic wrapping was loose from having been slit open. No cocaine appeared to be missing other than the small amount that spilled on the ground, and it was enough that he could sell on his own to help get away. He got himself up and gingerly carried the open bag to his car around the corner, then groggily drove himself away from the scene. The clock in his car told him it was now 1:58, so he figured he had been unconscious for just under a half hour. He tried to shake off whatever was in that dart and hoped Marquez wouldn’t start looking for him for another hour or so without a report.

If AJ could think more clearly, he would’ve notice the car that trailed behind him for most of his drive, but the sedatives still had a small hold on his senses. He kept on as he passed dilapidated houses and condemnable apartments until his car squeaked to a stop in front of his building. A bright yellow light lit up the graffiti painted over the side door of the building, and he looked over his shoulder into the darkness as he crept through. While carefully clutching the broken cocaine package in his jacket, he sneaked up the concrete stairway and down the hallway to his apartment.

Turning on the light, his heart stopped to see two men already in his living room. The first was a tall, muscle-bound man dressed in faded army pants and a black muscle shirt, standing with his arms crossed in front of him and a serious look on his dark face. The second man sitting in the well-worn armchair, AJ recognized as Marquez. He was a thin but slightly muscular man wearing no shirt but a black fur coat and tight black jeans. His arms, chest and neck were covered in tattoos similar to the ones on his shaved head, he wore rings on a few of his fingers, and he brandished a polished Colt .45 lightly in his hand. When he saw AJ, his dilated eyes narrowed and a smile crept across his face.

“Hey, kid,” Marquez hummed in the raspy voice of a chain-smoker. “Thought you might try to skip out on me.”

AJ’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach and he slowly revealed the package from his jacket. He had been caught. He shook as he tried to figure a way to bargain for his life. “It… it wasn’t my fault!”

Marquez quickly crossed the room, grabbed AJ by the throat, and threw him down into the armchair. “What the fuck happened?!” he barked.

“It was some kind of trap!” AJ pleaded. “They knocked me out with some kind of tranq’, man. When I woke up, the other guy was shot dead. I kept the coke safe!”

“He’s dead?! _Fuck!_ ” Marquez snarled and slammed his fist through the nearest wall.

“I have the coke! It’s here!” AJ added in panic. With trembling hands he held out the opened bag.

Marquez looked angrily from at the opened bag. He snatched it out of AJ’s hand and poured its contents out on AJ’s kitchen table. He ran his fingers through the powder, spreading it out and sending up a small puff of white mist. “IT’S NOT HERE!” he screamed.

AJ’s heart pounded in panic. “It’s right there! That’s all that was left!”

Marquez swept up his gun and fired a shot right through AJ’s forehead. Blood and matter splattered across the walls and down onto the floor as AJ’s body dropped down from the chair.

“Find the fucking drive!” Marquez snapped at the guard. “Crawl every mile between here and the deal site if you have to. FIND IT NOW!”

NCIS

McGee walked sullenly into the bullpen that Monday morning. His morning coffee didn’t seem to have any effect on his mood. He sat with a gloomy sigh and proceeded to slowly set up his computer for the day. Tony and Ziva casted wide-eyed, awkward looks at each other after McGee wordlessly passed, both unsure what to make of the mood. Ziva nodded towards McGee while staring at Tony, but Tony shrugged confoundedly.

Tony tried to construct an appropriate sentence while adhering to Ziva’s order not to tease. Eventually he managed to call out, “Morning, Probie.”

“Hey,” McGee murmured back. He saw the confused looks exchanged by Ziva and Tony and tried his best to ignore them.

“You uh… you alright?”

“Yeah.”

Tony’s mouth hung open in a grimace as no more words could come out. He was on a very thin line about asking about McGee’s weekend, but needed to keep to his agreement with Ziva and let McGee volunteer the information. He looked down at his coffee cup and had an idea.

“I’m gonna grab another coffee before Boss comes back. McGee, you need any?”

McGee shook his head tiredly, but Ziva stood up.

“Actually I need some,” Ziva made up on the spot, “but… I don’t trust you to make it right, Tony, so I’ll go too.”

They headed off towards the vending machines but then ducked behind the stairway while McGee wasn’t looking.

Tony dropped his voice to a low whisper, “What the hell?! He’s _sad_?”

Ziva’s mouth dropped in disbelief. “I know! What do you think it means?”

“I have no idea. Maybe he said something too dorky even for Riley…”

Ziva paced with her hand stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe Riley didn’t show up? Or maybe he did, they had sex, and he left while McGee was asleep? That is typical of men.”

“I doubt it,” Tony shook his head, “Riley was never like that. That was my method.”

Ziva rolled her eyes at Tony and continued, “He did seem interested in McGee, so maybe they just didn’t work out? Or maybe McGee wasn’t actually interested?”

Tony threw his hands up. “Maybe it has nothing to do with Riley, even. Maybe his typewriter broke?”

McGee waited until Tony and Ziva were out of earshot before cracking open an evil grin and sniggering to himself. He pulled out his phone and opened up his text conversation with Riley.

**Tim:** _They both bought it and have no idea what to think. They’re also talking about it for sure._

**Riley:** _HAHA! That’s great. How long are you going to mess with them?_

**Tim:** _Not sure. I’ll probably have to come clean sooner or later because I’m a terrible liar. I can dance around it for a bit but Ziva can read me like a book when she asks a direct question._

**Riley:** _I really don’t know Ziva that well, but I’m pretty sure Tony had me figured out and didn’t talk about it with anyone. You don’t need to tell them what really happened if you don’t want to. I know that’s sometimes how it has to be for people like us._

McGee thought about Riley’s text for a moment. It wasn’t until that morning when his alarm went off that he remembered Tony’s curious way of asking about Riley before they went out for drinks. They had coordinated the strategy to confuse Ziva and Tony on McGee’s way into work, but they hadn’t yet talked about what to actually tell them when the time came. “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” didn’t apply to NCIS, but that wouldn’t prevent the wrong ears from making things difficult for him. McGee didn’t think he’d have a problem with his work friends, but he just wasn’t sure what to tell them. He and Riley had not yet discussed using the term ‘boyfriend,’ and they had only just started seeing each other.

**Tim:** _Have you told anyone at your work that you like men?_

**Riley:** _Not directly. I think a few people have it figured out but it’s not something that really comes up._

**Tim:** _Tony sometimes teases me about it, though, and that was before you were even around. I dunno if I should say anything._

**Riley:** _He teased me too, then it just stopped all of a sudden. I think that’s when he realized it was actually true but I never asked him. I’d say play it safe for now. Maybe if things keep going the right way between us, we can talk more about it._

**Tim:** _That’s probably the best idea._

**Riley:** _Alright, I got a lot of work to do. Stuff’s gone a bit sideways with work and I’m gonna have my ass handed to me today. I’ll text when I can but I’m probably not gonna be around much this week. I should still be ok for the weekend but I’ll let you know if not._

**Tim:** _Ok. Good luck!_

Tim smiled, then rolled his jaw to try to resume his somber face.

Ziva stretched her index finger commandingly at Tony behind the staircase. “You have to ask him how his weekend went.”

Tony smiled smugly. “Oh? Is someone anxious to have some gossip material?”

She narrowed her eyes, then tried to soften to a dignified look. “It is not for gossip, merely curiosity and concern for a friend. And you want to know, too.”

“Yeah, but right now it’s fun watching you squirm because you want to know so bad,” Tony replied with a smirk as he started walking back towards the bullpen.

“ _Tony!”_ she hissed, trying to keep her voice down and shooting him a frustrated glare.

She rushed up to walk into the bullpen with him and they slowly took their seats. McGee quickly glanced at the two of them and struggled to keep up his façade.

“I thought you two went for coffee?” he asked, his face straining with greater difficulty at their faces when they heard the question.

Tony froze and realized they were caught. He quickly lied, “They were out. They- uh- the- break room… was out.”

McGee hummed indifferently in response, secretly enjoying his game.

Ziva was bursting with curiosity. There was a question on her mind and she hated not having the answer. She straightened up in her chair and looked over at Tony. “So, Tony, how was your weekend?”

He briefly narrowed his eyes at her attempt. He replied simply, “Fine.”

She grumbled at his stonewalling and decided to go for broke. “How was your weekend, McGee?”

McGee was going to formulate an answer, but he heard the swiftly approaching footsteps and knew she’d have to wait.

“Dead Navy Corporal, grab your gear,” Gibbs ordered as he swooped into the bullpen towards his desk.

McGee was the first on his feet with his gear and his sidearm, and he led the way towards the elevator so the others wouldn’t see the betraying smile on his face.

NCIS

McGee walked casually out of the elevator to Abby’s lab. He volunteered to carry down the crate of evidence from their crime scene to her lab because he needed a reprieve from keeping up his depressed face around Ziva and Tony. He was happy to be successfully balancing a prank on both of them at the same time, and it was very difficult not to laugh at their confusion. He trusted Abby more than he trusted Tony and she seemed to know Riley very well, so he was considering opening up to her about him. The loud music pulsed in the air as McGee reached the lab. He found Abby heavily engrossed in a drawing in her notebook.

“Hey, Abby,” he greeted cheerfully and set the crate down on a lab table.

“Morning, McGee.” She quickly finished her drawing and hopped up from her seat. “Ooh! Presents for me?”

“Fresh from the scene, all yours.”

She faux-acted as a diva with her hands on her heart, “Oh, thank you!” She settled into a smirk and pulled out her best gossip tone, “So, how was going out for drinks on Friday?”

McGee couldn’t help but smile a little. “It was fun.”

Abby giggled and took out an evidence bag but didn’t take her eyes off McGee. “And uh, did he show you the rest of his tattoo?”

McGee blushed as he remembered the way the griffin’s tail wound around Riley’s thigh, and the taste and feel of Riley’s skin as their hips ground together.

Abby didn’t wait for a verbal response before her face lit up and her mouth shot open with delight. “You STUD!” She smacked him playfully on the chest. “On the first date?!”

“Abby! Keep your voice down!” he hissed. “And no, it… well… it technically wasn’t the first date.”

She quieted down momentarily and tilted her head aside in confusion. “Wait, you dated him before?”

“No, but we kinda hit it off when we went out for drinks, and then last night we went to see a movie. Then…” he made a ‘moving forward’ motion with his hands.

“Wow, you really impressed the pants off him!” She cackled quietly and smacked the table at her own joke.

He groaned and hung his head. “A Tony joke? Really? Come on, I’ve been avoiding those all day. I think he and Ziva are playing some game where they can’t ask me about it but they’re seeing who can find out first.”

“Well don’t worry, my lips are sealed. But oh! It’s so cute! I’m so happy for you guys!” She bounced around the table and gave him a tight squeeze before getting to work. “By the way, I have something for you.”

He tilted his head to the side as she retrieved a small black object from under her desk and handed it to him. It looked like a computer mouse until he turned it over in his hand to examine it.

“You… got me a clicker from upstairs?”

Abby smiled. “Actually, it’s not from upstairs. It’s new, and it’s from Gibbs.”

McGee was taken aback. Gibbs never got him anything other than a fresh cup of coffee or _Caf-POW!_. “Really? Why?”

“For being so hard on you with the computers,” she replied, omitting her own part in the story but giving a sly look. “I helped pick it out. It has a mouse ball too, and I programmed it to use on _Tony’s_ computer.”

He smiled evilly at the prospect of messing with Tony when he’d be trying to click and the mouse would move, or it would click the wrong thing entirely just as Ziva would be looking over his shoulder. “Thanks Abby, this will make my year.”

He then pocketed the clicker and started to relax again. Abby went back to the evidence table while bouncing to her lab music.

McGee checked to make sure that Tony and Ziva weren’t standing outside the lab, then turned back. “How well do you know Riley?”

“I think I know him pretty well,” she asked while putting on her gloves.

“You think?”

She paused nervously before continuing, “Well I mean we haven’t had like a super-deep conversation in years so I don’t know what else has been up with him, but he seems pretty much the same since he’s been around the last few days.”

McGee nodded. “What was he like back then?”

“Heh. What, you didn’t get enough of him over the weekend?” she jeered.

McGee rolled his eyes. “No, just trying to get a clearer picture of who he is. You know, what he likes, dislikes, favorite food…”

She hummed and nodded. “Wait, are you guys talking about getting serious?”

He shrugged. “No, but I- I… I don’t know. I guess I just want to know what to expect. Did he used to have a lot of relationships?”

“Not really,” she replied while looking away, hiding a nervous bite of her lip. “I think there may have been one but he was rather devoted to work so he mostly kept things casual.”

He looked down and thought back to their conversations. “Do you think he still just wants to keep things casual?”

“At this point I really can’t say,” she called while walking over to her mass spectrometer and feeding it a sample. “But Riley’s not like Tony, the ‘player’ type, so I’m willing to bet that if he wants it to be casual he’ll actually tell you. What do _you_ want?”

He thought back to his concerns about what Gibbs would think. Gibbs hadn’t acted strangely or in any kind of mood at their crime scene earlier, and had actually returned to his usual closer-proximity stances and supportive looks towards McGee. McGee wondered if maybe Gibbs had noticed his sullen mood that was only meant for Tony and Ziva. It had been unusual having as much body contact as he did with Riley since he was just used to mainly just being _around_ someone that he liked. Actually holding Riley’s hand and feeling their bodies together was a new experience, and it was a sharp reminder that nothing was actually happening with McGee and Gibbs. McGee liked what he was doing with Riley, but it was too soon to know where it was going.

He finally looked up at her. “I’m not sure. I guess we’ll just wait and see.”

“Nothing wrong with that. So what’s lined up for this weekend?”

“A re-match in _Risk_. He told me he threw that game the other day.”

She grinned. “Oh yeah. That was a sucky strategy and he knew it.”

“Yeah, he pulled a fast one on me on our first night out. Was he always so unpredictable?”

“Not at first. He was a bit shy at first but he was new to the field. Once he got his bearings, he opened up little-by-little and starting taking more initiative with his cases.”

“He seems pretty put-together. Very confident, very open about most things.”

Abby said nothing, and her face was pensive. She kept her gaze specifically from McGee, then turned to her computer.

McGee noticed her stopping yet again, but this time had to say something. “You keep doing that. What’s going on?”

“Huh?” she innocently replied while still looking away.

“Abby, please,” he huffed in frustration and stood right next to her at her workstation. “You keep hesitating whenever we talk about Riley. What’s wrong? Did… did something happen between you two?” His eyes widened at the thought.

Her eyes shot open and her head jerked back in shock. “Wait, what?! Me and Riley?” She snorted out a chuckle but it was clearly forced. “Not… not a chance! I mean, Riley’s totally ‘best friend’ material for me but no, he’s very much only into men.”

McGee eyed her suspiciously. She seemed sincere about the answer even though she was clearly hiding something else. “Ok, then what is it?”

“Nothing!” she shrugged.

McGee shook his head. “It’s obviously something! Why won’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s not mine to--!” she started but quickly stopped herself, hands raised defensively in front of her and eyes shut in discomfort. She sighed and resigned herself to McGee not going away. “Ok, you know how I am about secrets. Riley can be open about a lot of things, and he is genuinely a good guy. But he definitely has some secrets and things bottled up, and he’s very good at keeping them that way.”

McGee stared, ingesting the information and trying to place it with the man who kissed him in the rain and openly told him about his father’s death.

Abby continued, “It’s like… I don’t know if what I think I know is true, and I can’t talk about it or even about why I can’t talk about it,” she groaned and sat with a distressed sigh. “It just sucks. Secrets suck. So please don’t ask and just… let it go?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” McGee’s mind wandered back and remembered Riley hesitating when talking about leaving NCIS for the FBI, and earlier when he said he was in trouble. If Riley had somehow gotten into trouble at NCIS and lost his job, there was only one reason McGee could think why. He looked down at the ground away from her. “Abby?”

She looked away from her computer at him. “What?”

He looked up at her with a serious look in his eyes. “Did Riley tell you that he liked men, or did you just figure it out like you did with me?”

She smiled just a little bit and walked over next to him. “I just kinda figure everyone’s open until they say otherwise. Riley didn’t object, and neither did you.”

“Is it obvious?”

“Not really. I wasn’t absolutely sure until I saw how you reacted to him.” Her smile stretched wider with satisfaction of being right.

He turned around and looked out to the rest of the lab, being careful not to look at her. “I’m not sure if I want people to know yet.”

She gently put her head on his shoulder. “That you’re a caring guy and you just happen to like sex with men as well as women?”

“I don’t think everyone will see it that way,” McGee shuddered, wondering what Tony’s next tease would be despite of Riley’s earlier reassurance and worried about Director Shepard’s opinion. “I don’t want my job to become hell because word gets out I went on a couple of dates with a guy or because it might get more serious than that. I don’t know how Riley managed it, or if that’s why he left.”

She looked up and bit her lip. “It wasn’t like that. He was really messed up by his dad dying. I think that’d be rough on anyone. But for you, anyone that matters won’t care that you like men, and you know we all have your back,” she reassured him with a squeeze. “But listen, I promise I won’t say anything to anyone, ok? This is your thing, and if you decide to tell people it’ll be on your own time.”

He leaned his head onto hers. “Thanks, Abs. You’re the best.”

She smiled. “I try, but if I’m gonna maintain that status I’d better kick you out so I can get some work done before Gibbs magically appears.” She leaned over to look expectantly at the door and waited a moment. When Gibbs did not appear she continued, “Whew. Ok, scoot!” She playfully swatted McGee on his butt.

He smiled and walked out of the lab.

NCIS

As McGee had feared would happen, it was now the third day since Riley’s last message. He had just tried to call Riley as it was now Thursday night, but the call went directly to voicemail. McGee sat in the fleet sedan peering through the darkness across the street at a suspect’s apartment building, but he had taken the moment to see if he could reach Riley while he was watching. He could only assume that Riley had to go back into some kind of undercover assignment, which most likely would mean that their plans for the weekend would be cancelled.

It had been a long week for the whole team. Tony’s car had exploded in the middle of the street, making the team think he was dead while on a deep-cover assignment to track down the French arms dealer La Grenouille. Even though Tony turned up alive, McGee was still somewhat rattled by the experience and hoped for a quiet weekend. Thankfully, Tony’s dramatic events had completely distracted both him and Ziva from poking around in McGee’s personal life. With the team back in one piece, Gibbs seemed to be back to his usual ‘tough-in-the-right-way’ self.

McGee’s attention was drawn to movement in the windows of Corporal Thomas Manning’s fourth-floor apartment. While he had seen movement earlier for a few minutes, the shadows thrown by this new activity were moving much more rapidly from room-to-room. Without warning, what looked like a small radio smashed through one of the windows and crashed loudly when it hit the ground. Through the newly opened window, McGee could hear the sounds of someone thrashing around inside the observed apartment. He quickly hit the toggle on his hand-held radio.

“Boss, Manning just chucked his radio out the window, and it sounds like he’s going crazy up there.”

_“I can hear it. Sounds like he tried some of the PCP he’s been selling as Ecstasy,”_ Gibbs radioed back. _“It looks like he might be trying to break out through the fire escape out back. McGee, call backup and get back here. DiNozzo, David, converge and block the side alleys with your cars and stand by if he escapes.”_

_“On it,”_ Tony replied over the radio.

McGee quickly switched radio channels to the police band and called for police backup that was patrolling the area, then rushed out of the car towards the alleyway next to the building. He sped down the side of the building as pieces of glass and wood from an upstairs window rattled against the fire escape on their way down. He had his hand on his weapon but wouldn’t draw it until necessary. It wasn’t the first time that McGee had to take down a suspect high on PCP or methamphetamines, and while he knew it could be done without lethal force it usually meant injuries for everyone.

Gibbs was waiting behind the building on the other side of the fire escape, also with his hand on his holstered weapon. He was squinting upward at the lanky man who was confusedly flailing back and forth across sides of the fire escape.

“No sign of a weapon but be ready,” he ordered.

Tony screeched to a halt in front of the alley where McGee entered, and Ziva made a U-turn in the street to block off the side alley leading behind the other buildings to another street. The light shone briefly into the Manning’s eyes as he turned, which only increased drug-induced rage. Gibbs swore as the Corporal darted down the stairs sloppily. As they had done in prior cases, McGee and Gibbs wordlessly coordinated their positions with Gibbs towards the front and McGee behind.

When Manning reached the second floor of the fire escape, he tried running out onto the ladder which sunk quickly under him and dropped him down hard onto the ground. Gibbs was waiting as Manning stood up, and Gibbs charged at him to lift him off his feet. McGee lunged forward and tackled both of them from the side, using his force to bring both men down with both his and Gibbs’ weight on top of the suspect. Gibbs and McGee struggled to turn Manning over onto his stomach so they could cuff him. Their arms and hands intertwined as they pinned the other man down. McGee managed to get his cuffs out and onto the Manning’s wrists, but the Corporal struggled and flailed so hard that he and Gibbs were shoved into each other. Their heads were each pushed into the other’s shoulder where their necks met their collars. They both pressed down on Manning together in such a way as to not restrict his air but to restrict his movement, but in doing so they also had to press harder against each other.

As Manning’s flailing slowly subsided and McGee’s heart rate slowed, he became aware of the skin of Gibbs’ neck on his right cheek and the warmth of Gibbs’ breath making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He felt the hot moistness of Gibbs’ panting on the right side of his neck and in that brief moment he felt Gibbs face press against skin, and not because of movement from the man below. A slight burn from the man’s stubble seemed to outline his lips on McGee’s neck. McGee forgot that they were literally kneeling on a suspect trying to keep him still. He stayed as he was, waiting for Gibbs to retreat from the contact. Gibbs did slowly pull back, but he slid himself against McGee’s cheek as he went instead of simply moving away to the side. Gibbs’ ice-blue eyes locked with McGee’s eager green eyes. In that split-second, McGee thought he saw desire, and then another bout of thrashing from underneath forced the two men painfully back together again. McGee was wedged uncomfortably under Gibbs’ chest as they both tried to regain a hold on their suspect. This time Gibbs withdrew quickly to reach the microphone in his sleeve.

“You two waiting for an engraved invitation?” he grumbled into the radio.

Tony and Ziva’s rapid footfalls approached from opposite ends of the alley. They instantly sprang into action when they saw the Corporal’s feet were unbound and flying about. Ziva kept the legs and feet tightly together while Tony managed to bind them with heavy-duty zip ties. They were put to the test as the wailing sirens and flashing lights of the arriving police cars and ambulance sent Manning into another fit of rage, however the ties held while he was strapped by the agents and paramedics to a gurney.

McGee breathed easier when the ambulance door closed. Manning hadn’t screamed or yelled like many others who had been arrested, but had been confined to unintelligible grunts and snarls more akin to an animal. McGee looked at his hands and did a self-check to see if he was feeling any pain.

Tony snuck up behind him and whispered curiously, “Break a nail, _McManicure_?”

McGee rolled his eyes yet couldn’t help but chuckle as he turned around. “No, surprisingly. I was expecting worse from a loaded PCP dealer.”

Tony nodded and took a deep breath, also visibly relieved. “Yeah, it helps when the bad guys are the paper-pushers and not the heavy-machinery guys.”

“Or steroid junkies,” Ziva added in agreement as she smoothed out her thick coat.

Gibbs finished giving the Police Lieutenant instructions and joined the group. “Alright, grab your kits and let’s process upstairs.”

McGee looked up just in time to peer directly into Gibbs’ eyes once more. This time it wasn’t difficult to read the usual look that simply read _‘work.’_ The group went back to their individual cars to grab their evidence kits, then trudged upstairs to Manning’s apartment. McGee gathered and catalogued evidence quietly while Tony attempted to banter, but his thoughts were back in the alley. He wanted to brush it off as just _‘work’_ even though it was contact that he craved. It didn’t help that Gibbs seemed to avoid McGee while he was gathering evidence, only reaffirming to McGee that Gibbs knew what had happened and was now keeping _‘work’_ distance.

_‘We had to wrestle a guy down, that’s why we were touching,’_ he thought to himself. His brain quickly reminded him that he actually wanted to hear from Riley, and he quickly checked his phone. To his disappointment but not complete surprise, there was nothing. When thinking of Riley, he still felt the electric tingle on the left side of his neck under his ear where Riley discovered McGee’s sensitive spot. It was now joined by the ghost of Gibbs’ burning kiss on the right side of his neck. The memories of both kisses sent jolts down his spine, bringing his erection to life in his pants. _‘Dammit. Not here,’_ he growled internally as he tried and failed to focus on the crime scene. _‘We’re fine just the way we are together.’_ The new-looking laptop on the coffee table in front of him was left open but locked by a password, so McGee removed the attached flash drive and forcefully shut the computer for packaging.

The end of the evening could not come soon enough. After dropping off the evidence to be examined in the morning, he sped home with anticipation of the steaming shower waiting for him. Tim breezed through his apartment, fluidly dropping his gear bag on the floor and his coat on a hook as he went. He felt hot. His balls ached from steeling himself against the urges and stirrings he had felt since feeling Gibbs on him and seeing the look in his eyes. He checked and re-checked the image of Gibbs’ look in the alley in his mind as he started the shower warming up.

“It was definitely intentional,” he reminded himself out loud. He pulled off his shirt and kicked off his shoes at the end of the bed. “Then back to work in front of Tony and Ziva,” he added while removing his pants. He adjusted his shower head so that when he stepped into the stream, the jets of steaming water massaged his muscles and powered through the day’s sweat and musk. He moaned with pleasure as work melted off of him. As he lathered himself with soap, he rubbed where Gibbs was on the right side of his neck and face. He ran his fingertips up across the spot on his neck where he was sure he felt Gibbs press his lips intentionally against him.

The thought of Gibbs’ lips on his neck sent blood and his hand rushing to his cock. He squeezed his hardening flesh and moaned as Gibbs’ lips were joined by his teeth gently nipping at Tim’s smooth skin. The warm water beating against his back was replaced by heat radiating from Gibbs’ chest as he stepped into the shower behind Tim. Gibbs embraced Tim tightly and ran his hands down Tim’s arms, feeling and gripping them as he had earlier.

Gibbs’s whisper cut through the sound of the rushing water, _“You did good, Tim.”_

Tim’s thoughts were lost as he felt Gibbs’ cock press against his ass, and Gibbs circled around to set the other side of Tim’s neck on fire with more kisses. Tim stroked himself harder and his fingers slid down between his legs to where Gibbs’ cock was pressed between his water-slicked cheeks. Tim steadied himself with his shoulder against the cold tile of the shower wall. Gibbs spun him around and hooked Tim’s legs around his own waist, hoisting him up against the wall. Tim gasped and held onto Gibbs’ shoulders as Gibbs ran his face and mouth over Tim’s chest. Tim rested his head against Gibbs and shut his eyes. While he couldn’t quite reach Gibbs’ lips for a kiss he could smell the sawdust and manly scent that made his cock strain in its skin. Gibbs positioned himself against Tim’s hole and let gravity to the rest of the work.

Tim was already bordering on his orgasm when his fingers and Gibbs’ cockhead pressed into him. His hand flew in rapid strokes over his own cock, and as he sank down onto Gibbs he felt the pressure on his fingertips open the ring of muscle in his ass. Obscenities streamed uncontrollably from his mouth as Gibbs thrusted harder into him.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck yes! Fuck me Gibbs, please!”

Gibbs used his arm to pin Tim’s chest and head against the wall while his mouth found Tim’s nipples and toyed with them. Tim writhed in ecstasy and ached for release. He looked down to see and smell Gibbs again, but as Gibbs ran his hand up Tim’s left thigh, Tim could see black lines forming a lion’s tail coiling around his leg. For a second he felt Riley’s weight on top of his chest and felt wet lips caress his own, sending jolts down through his cock and balls. The pressure inside him built, and Tim felt like he’d break through the wall if he was pressed against it any harder.

Gibbs appeared through Riley’s image and looked up at Tim with his icy eyes, growling in the low voice Tim heard earlier, _“You waiting for an engraved invitation?”_

Gibbs’ permission was all Tim needed and snapped him out of thoughts of anyone else. The first volley of his cum rocked through him so hard that his legs nearly gave out underneath him. He pressed himself against the wall as five more jets fired out from his cock, and slowly sank down to the tub floor. Water continued to rain down on him as he withdrew his fingers from his quivering body. He wavered in and out of reality once the tremors subsided, slowly and groggily coming back alone to his Silver Spring apartment shower. When he found the spot on the shower curtain where his cum sprayed out, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all.

He picked himself up and dried off, and dreamily wandered through his nightly routine of turning on the TV in the bedroom, making a mug of tea, and settling down in the overstuffed chair next to his bed. This routine was in place for the nights when he either had writer’s block or just wasn’t interested in writing. Alternate routines involving computer gaming or reading were also available, but when he was waiting for something to happen he usually chose tea and TV. Once he was in his chair, he finally remembered that he was waiting for a text from Riley.

The split-second of Riley appearing in the shower with him flashed in his memory, with eyes that glowed electric blue and threatened to pull Tim’s heart right out through his chest. Tim shut his eyes and tried to calm himself. As he breathed slowly, he felt the echoes of Gibbs’ hot breath on his neck. He tried to shut out the memory, but his mind started to feel like the suspect they apprehended – careening from one side of the fire escape to the other, unsure which direction to take with temperamental yet occasionally warm Gibbs on one side and disappearing but passionate Riley on the other. He felt dizzy as he reeled between the two. Was he actually dating Riley? Or did he belong to Gibbs?

_‘Shit. I’m in trouble,’_ he thought to himself.


	7. Chapter 6

NCIS

Black wings blew a soft wind across Tim’s torso.

_*BUZZ*_

Searing hot lips scorched the side of his neck.

_*BUZZ*_

“Mphf… goway…” Tim mumbled into his pillow. He hadn’t had a dream like this before and didn’t want to lose it now. His blanket was even tented from the arousal.

_*BUZZ*_

“I’m up…” he grunted with minimal consciousness and tried to press the button on his alarm clock without opening his eyes.

_*BUZZ*_

“Off!” he slapped his alarm clock again.

_*BUZZ*_

It slowly dawned on him that it was his cell phone buzzing. “Oh…” he murmured as he reached over to his phone. Without looking at the ID he held it up and answered, “He’o?”

_“Hey,”_ a warm and familiar voice greeted him and sent his heart fluttering.

Tim’s mouth stretched to a happy smile as he slowly slurred, “Mmmh, Riley… I was just dreaming… wondered where you’ve been.”

_“Oh no! I’m sorry, I woke you up,”_ Riley spoke softly and slowly. He sounded just as tired as Tim but not quite like he just woke up. _“I was hoping to catch you before you had breakfast but after you woke up.”_

Tim looked at the alarm clock and saw it was 6 AM. The Friday morning sun was starting to shine through the curtains and across his bed, narrowly avoiding the pillows where he rested. He had another hour of sleep available to him, but he was too happy to hear from Riley to protest. “Nah, s’okay, needed to be up soon.”

_“Ok, well I’m really sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been away in Dallas since Monday night and just got back. I’m at the office now and haven’t even been home yet, but I was hoping you’d maybe want to get some breakfast?”_

“Ohhhhh, that sounds nice.” Tim sat up in his bed and stretched.

_“Good, I hate going to diners alone. And… well, yeah.”_

“Hm? What?”

_“Oh nothing, but um…”_

“Nah, come on, what’s up?”

Riley chuckled a bit on the other end of the line and hesitated for a moment. _“I just kinda wanted to see you again, that’s all.”_

Something in the other man’s voice made Tim a little concerned. “Is everything ok? Are you ok?”

_“Oh yeah I’m fine, just dead tired. I got the day off, so after breakfast I’m going home.”_

Tim tried to shrug off the feeling of uneasiness. “Ok, where do you wanna go?”

_“There’s this place on Northwest Kansas and Georgia that’s pretty good, wanna meet there?”_

“Sure, give me 20 minutes?”

_“Sounds good. I’m just wrapping up here. See you then.”_

“See you…”

Tim stayed seated in bed for a moment and thought back to Riley’s hesitation. _‘Dallas for three days, not even home yet and wants to see me. That’s good, right?’_

His pessimistic side spoke back to him. _‘You’re still dreaming about Gibbs. Maybe he knows you’re interested in someone else.’_

He shook his head. _‘He couldn’t know that. And even so, we didn’t exactly commit to each other. Maybe he wants to become something more official.’_

_‘Not if he’s seeing you before he goes home to pack. He even said he was in trouble last time you talked, so he could be getting transferred to Dallas. Which would mean…’_

He imagined Riley sitting across from him in a red diner booth with his hands folded in front of him. _‘I’m can’t be with you, Tim.’_

“No,” he sadly blurted out loud. His heart sunk as he considered the possibility. Men were hard to come by in Tim’s position, especially good-looking men who seemed interested in him. Even if Riley was as secretive as Abby said, Tim still wanted a chance to see what they could be to each other. He liked feeling Riley resting on his chest while making jokes back and forth. He wanted to talk to someone without feeling self-conscious. He looked forward to seeing Riley standing in his doorway again, but now it seemed like that may not happen.

He shook his head got out of bed, padded around the kitchen to start his coffee early, then jumped in the shower quickly and brushed his teeth. Looking in the mirror after suiting up, he took a few deep breaths and tried to smile. “Act like you’re not dreading this, act like you’re not dreading this, everything is fine.” He tried and failed to convince himself, but it was all he could manage to do before he had to leave. Leaving about an hour earlier than usual meant that there was less traffic on Tim’s way into the city, but as early as he was he still saw Riley’s truck already parked on the street next to the diner.

The diner took up a corner of a small brick building on a concrete island surrounded by bustling DC streets. The street parking was barely existent but enough for the few occupants the diner could hold. The diner was small and cramped, though exactly as Tim imagined it would be with black-and-white checkered floors, large glass windows, stainless steel accents, red booths and bar stools, and dark countertops with white retro-looking patterns. From outside he could already see Riley sitting in a booth with his hands folded in front of him just like Tim had imagined earlier.

“Oh dear god,” he groaned to himself and hung his head in the silence of his car.

He took a few deep breaths, then got out of his car and headed into the diner. As small as it was, Riley was able to see him coming despite the small crowd inside and stood to greet him. Tim expected a tepid greeting, but instead Riley clumsily threw his arms around Tim and squeezed tiredly. Tim was surprised and took a second before returning the embrace.

Riley groaned quietly and happily, then whispered, “Good to see you.”

Tim rubbed his back with a small smile, still filled with dread but at least glad he could hold Riley for another second. “You too. You ok?”

“Eh,” Riley grunted and motioned them into the booth.

As they sat, Tim was able to get a better look at Riley. He was wearing the usual black FBI suit, though his tie was absent and his shirt was mostly unbuttoned. He looked pale and there were dark circles and bags under his eyes. His black hair was slightly disheveled and his stubble had grown out like he hadn’t shaved in days.

“Jeez, Riley, you look…” Tim paused to stop himself from sounding insulting.

“Like shit?” Riley completed for him. He smiled weakly and chuckled, “Believe me, I know.”

The waitress came over with two mugs and a pot of coffee, intuitively seeing that both men needed it. She took the rest of their order and smiled as they each took healthy sips of coffee.

“Mmmh… thank all that is holy and caffeinated,” Riley moaned quietly.

Tim chortled as he set down his cup. “What happened to you? Did you get beat up again?”

Riley counted on his fingers as he recalled his week. “Let’s see, partially botched mission Monday morning which really wasn’t my fault, which led to a dressing down by my boss and being taken out of the field. Then a server was under attack in Dallas with OMNI’s signature all over it, so he flew me down as the ‘subject matter expert’ just _after_ telling me I was out of the field. Then I spent the next 72 hours fending off hackers while simultaneously trying to track them down. Finally found them yesterday, then was given more crap about more things that happened because of the mission on Monday. So right now no one at work is sure whether they hate me or love me.” He sighed exhaustedly. “All I know is I just need some sleep. I think I’ve gotten about 6 hours in the last 5 days, and that’s including the hour I slept on the flight back here.”

Tim exhaled dreadfully. “Jesus. No wonder you sounded…” he wavered his hand back and forth, “… on the phone. I was worried for a bit.”

Riley notched his eyebrow up. “Worried about what?”

“About you, and… things.” Tim really hoped he wouldn’t have to say what he was worried about for fear of it coming true.

“What do you mean?”

Tim sipped at his coffee before taking a brave breath. “I was… kinda worried you were gonna…”

Riley’s jaw dropped, and he brought one hand up to cover his eyes as he groaned. He dropped his voice to a low whisper, “Oh god, you thought I was gonna say I couldn’t see you anymore…”

Tim grimaced. “Yeah. It didn’t seem like you were happy to have to see me, and when you didn’t even text at all…”

Riley again used his hand to hide his now blushing face. “No, no, just the opposite. Ugh, I’m sorry, this whole week has been a mess. Since I left your place on Sunday night everything just went downhill. I… I wanted to text a few times while I was away but the only time I could was super early in the morning, and things with us are still kinda new so I didn’t want to seem too clingy or needy, you know, with plans last weekend and again this weekend.”

Tim sighed in relief and broke into a nervous smile. “What? No, you wouldn’t have been. I was really looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow.”

Riley chuckled. “Ugh, I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.” He set down his hand in front of Tim’s and lightly brushed against the back of it.

Tim smiled delightedly and returned the gentle rub with his hand. “Don’t be. I’m just glad we’re ok. But I will say it’s a relief to not be the self-conscious one for once, even though I thought you didn’t care what other people think.”

“Oh, shut up. You’re different than other people in my book and you know it.” Riley’s smile brought some color back to his face and eyes, though they both still looked heavily drained of life.

Tim’s heart beat strongly and securely in his chest. Even though he was struggling to find a balance between his feelings for Riley and Gibbs, he could actually express them for Riley and they were returned. It was worth the dizzying whirlwind of thoughts in his head late at night. He remembered what Abby said about something changing in Riley and having things bottled up, but Riley seemed genuine in all that he was saying. He could tell that Riley wasn’t his usual fiery self, so now that Tim knew things were fine between them he wanted to try to be a bit more assertive and supportive to make up for it. He started thinking of a line he could use to flirt or be suggestive.

The waitress finally came with their plates of food. Tim had ordered pancakes with eggs and bacon, and Riley had tiredly followed suit but with French toast instead of pancakes. They dug in hungrily, and Riley hummed like it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted.

In response to Tim’s entertained looks he explained, “I’ve been living off of protein bars and energy drinks all week. Real food tastes amazing right now.”

After gulping down a mouthful, Tim asked, “What happened on Monday that got you in trouble? What was the assignment?”

Riley looked around to make sure no one was close. They were in a booth in the corner, and the bar stools across from them were empty. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “My team was intercepting a data package from OMNI. They try to hide a USB drive in these drug deals so they get different gangs to do stuff for them with only certain high-ranking gang members knowing why. Well, I was tracking one of their new recruits and followed him to his first deal. We had to intercept the deal and make it look like a mugging so both OMNI agents would go back to their bosses, but the recruit shot and killed the other agent while we were darting them. It technically wasn’t my fault but it was still a death under my operation and one more trace of OMNI lost.” He forked a piece of toast roughly.

Tim nodded sympathetically. “That’s awful.”

Riley shrugged and kept his voice down. “On the up side, we got the USB drive the new guy was carrying. On the down side, he didn’t lead us back to the gang’s den and he was found dead for failing to deliver. Again, not directly my fault, but another death due to my operation. Got that news on Thursday, hence the drama yet again. Now we’re joining up with an NSA attachment to help oversee things.”

With no one nearby to see, Tim reached out and placed his hand gently on Riley’s. “Don’t blame yourself. You weren’t the one that killed them.”

“Thanks,” Riley smiled and weaved his fingers between Tim’s. “The new guy was just a kid. I think him being killed was harder on me. The other guy had been at this for a while, his tattoo had a lower, or older, number on it. But this kid’s tattoo scar was fresh. Oh well, it’s not like I’m supposed to like any of this.”

Tim nodded in agreement. “Are any of us?” he asked before taking a bite of his bacon.

“Nope. Maybe I should’ve been a stripper after all… What about you? Any fun cases lately?”

Tim thought back to his week. “Sort of. I guess if we’re trading confidential stories, I can tell you this one. Tony was on a deep-cover assignment hunting La Grenoiulle. His cover was blown, almost literally. His car exploded, but he wasn’t in it at the time.”

Riley’s eyes went wide while listening, but he sighed with relief at the end.

Tim continued, “Other than that, things are fairly normal. Our latest case is a dead marine who died using tainted PCP disguised as Ecstasy. We just arrested his dealer last night, who was actually a Corporal in the same unit.”

Riley sat back in the booth, content with the emptiness of his plate. His head drifted from side-to-side from his crashing energy levels.

“So you’ve got the day off?” Tim asked, just finishing his own meal.

“Given how much I’ve worked this week, I can take a weekday off and still will have worked overtime. I’m gonna go home and crash, but I’m glad I got to see you.”

Tim looked at his watch. “I’ve still got time before I have to head in, want to walk around for a bit?”

Riley smiled sleepily. “With you? Absolutely.” He pulled out his wallet, but was halted by Tim.

“Nope, nope, this one’s on me,” Tim held one hand out to stop Riley while fishing out his own wallet with the other. “You’ve had a rough week.” He laid down more than enough cash for the bill.

Riley smiled gratefully and stood up. As Tim joined him, Riley yawned exhaustedly and stumbled backward against the booth.

Tim grabbed his arm firmly but gently to stabilize him. “Uh, are you sure about that walk? You look like you’re ready to fall over.”

“Might be because I am. Ugh, you’re probably right, I’m sorry.”

Tim smiled and helped Riley back to a full standing position. “ _Don’t apologize, it’s a sign of weakness._ ”

Riley chuckled. “Ah, _Rule Six._ Practically had that one engraved on the back of my head with how many times Gibbs smacked me for that one.” He started them walking out of the diner.

“He doesn’t smack us for that one anymore, I think it got too exhausting.”

They reached Riley’s truck, but Riley tried repeatedly to open the door without success. After the fifth try he finally mumbled, “Oh, right… locked.”

Tim sniggered, “Are you sure you’re not drunk?”

“No, not drunk,” he replied, finally opening the driver’s side door. “This is lack of sleep. I’m very good at holding my liquor when I drink.”

Tim stepped closer to Riley and leaned against the truck. “Maybe I should drive you home anyway. I want to make sure you’ll be okay.”

Riley flushed, and tried hiding his smile as he coyly looked away. “Really? You want to?”

Tim tried to say the line he had rehearsed to himself inside. “Yeah, and… well… if I drive you home now, that just means I have to, you know, come back later to help you get your truck.”

“Oh. _Ohhh…_ ” Riley grinned as it dawned on him what Tim was trying to say. “Oh, you’re good.”

Tim laughed. “Yeah?”

Riley responded by opening up the small passenger door of the truck’s cab and pulling out a black and blue rolling suitcase. “Think your tiny Porsche will fit this?”

Tim took the handle of the suitcase, his hand gliding over Riley’s as it went. “Let’s go find out.”

NCIS

Riley’s apartment building was an old converted factory in Park View. The light brown brick façade was intact and showed its well-maintained age, though a more modern-looking addition was built on one side for the lobby and an upstairs communal patio. For as many units as there were and given that rush hour was about to commence, Tim was surprised that he only saw a couple of people in the halls while he and Riley were walking in. Entering Riley’s apartment felt more like entering a design catalogue printed in black and white. The floors were light gray wood laminate, the ceiling was high and concrete, the walls were starch white, and the cabinets in the kitchen were smooth and white to contrast the black marble countertops. There was a small foyer containing a coat closet and a small bench with three towels rolled up on one side. Tim didn’t know what to make of the towels, but held his question for the end of Riley’s tour.

The kitchen was set against the wall closest to the door, though it had an island that looked out at the open living and dining space. The island housed the stainless steel kitchen sink and a raised bar where two black and stainless steel stools were stationed. Two large windows fitted with retractable blackout curtains were spaced evenly along the long exterior wall stretching the length of the large room. The dining space took up only as much space as a small black table and two black chairs could take in front of one of the windows.

The rest of the large space was devoted to the living room mostly outlined by a large, fuzzy black rug. There were two black leather recliners and a grey microfiber chaise lined up in a row facing the side wall, separated by small, white marble-patterned end tables. The chaise was just wide enough for two people, had a gentle curvature to its length for leg comfort, no arms on the sides and had a gray/white faux fur throw folded at its end. The living room faced the side wall where a flat-screen TV stood on a large white entertainment console filled with DVDs and speakers. The far wall next to the chaise caught Tim’s eye with a large black bookshelf that spanned from the wall with windows almost all the way across the width of the apartment. The entirely full bookshelf stopped just before the doorway leading into the bedroom. The ceilings were unpainted concrete with two thick beams crossing the width of the main room to give the space an industrial feel.

The bedroom continued the black and white pattern with a black, queen-sized platform bed furnished with white bedding and black nightstands. The black dresser stood just under a wall-mounted TV facing the bed. Facing out the bedroom window was a black desk that had the only disorder Tim had seen so far in the apartment. A stack of once-neat papers seemed to have slid to the side, and the drawers on the desk were partially open with a page or two sticking out. The apartment felt larger than Tim’s, though he suspected the more open floor plan and minimalist decor had something to do with it. The only colors he really saw were on the books on the shelves, the occasional magazine on a table, the shoes in the foyer, and the clothes in the closets.

“Well,” Tim started to comment and nod as he looked around, “this place looks…” _‘bland?’_ “… really nice.”

Riley laughed quietly as he slipped his laptop bag off his shoulder and set it on the desk. “You can say it, I know you want to.”

Tim did want to, but knew better. His own apartment looked messy with the various electronics and components scattered in bins, so he wasn’t about to pass negative judgement. “No, it’s really cool.” He watched as Riley slowly and tiredly shed his suit. “What’s with the towels by the door?”

“Oh, that’s for when I come in from the rain. I go jogging and, well, you know I don’t let the rain stop me. The towels are so I don’t drip all over the place.”

Tim remembered the sound their wet clothes made as they slapped against the wood floors of his own apartment and nodded. “Ah, makes sense. But seriously, this is pretty cool.”

“My friend Sabrina is an interior designer. I thought she was colorblind, but she swore to me that ‘ _This is the Metro look people want!’_ and that _‘Minimalist is gonna be hot!’_ ” He gestured her quotes with his fingers and grinned while he reminisced. “To be fair, it’s really easy to tell when something’s dirty, and I found myself being more focused on what I was doing or who I was with because I wasn’t as distracted by stuff.”

Tim raised one eyebrow nervously. “You, uh… bring people back here a lot?”

Riley smiled smugly and blushed. He was down to wearing just his boxers and a black _The Clash_ t-shirt when he strutted sleepily over to where Tim stood on the other side of the bed. “Someone’s a little _jelly_ ,” he taunted in a sing-song voice.

Tim dropped his jaw mockingly as Riley pulled him closer by his sports jacket. He couldn’t help but smile as the still-tired blue eyes gave him whatever glow they could muster.

“Well,” Riley began as he snaked his arms around Tim’s waist, “in all honesty, I have brought people back here, but not many and not recently. I’ve been busy hanging around with some guy.”

Tim nuzzled his head down against Riley’s. “Oh really?”

Riley leaned up and softly kiss him, then hummed, “Yeah, you’d like him. Cute, funny, tall as a freakin’ redwood tree…”

“I’m not _that_ tall,” Tim snorted.

Riley chuckled and continued, “Well I really like him and could get serious about him if he’s interested.”

Tim smiled, then pulled Riley tighter and kissed him again with trace amounts of tongue. “That sounds like it’s a very important conversation to have, and I have a feeling he’s interested.”

“Mm,” Riley added before burying his face into Tim’s chest and humming.

Tim smiled and swayed them gently together. Checking his watch he whispered, “Well I think you and your ‘redwood tree’ will have some catching up to do tonight after you get some sleep.” He felt Riley’s smile before he saw it, and couldn’t help but laugh when Riley gave a convincing snore. “Come on, into bed.” He guided Riley towards the bed. Riley plopped himself down and rolled to one side where Tim sat on the edge next to him.

“So you’ll come back after work?” Riley asked sleepily with hopeful eyes as he wound his fingers between Tim’s.

“As soon as I’m done, but I don’t know exactly when that’ll be. You know how it is. Will you be ok?”

Riley blushed again and tried to hide his face in a pillow.

Tim wasn’t quite sure how to read him. “What? What is it?”

Riley was glowing as he looked back up at him. “You’re really sweet. You actually care if I’ll be ok, don’t you?”

Tim blushed himself and ran his free fingers across Riley’s cheek like he had seen done in the movies. “Yeah, I do. You’re surprised?”

Riley purred at the contact with his hand. “It’s just been a while. I’ve learned to be careful with relationships, especially new ones.”

Tim nodded understandingly. “I get it. I’ve been burned a lot too.”

“Well I think after good day’s sleep, a nice shower ‘n shave, and knowing you’ll be coming back, I’ll be right as rain. Call me when you’re done.”

“I will.” Tim leaned down and planted a long kiss on Riley’s lips, then quietly made his exit.

Tim’s heart jumped while he walked down the hallways to the parking lot, replaying the conversation over and over in his mind. He had been surprisingly calm while it was all happening, but now the thought of it all was exhilarating. He hadn’t been in a real relationship with a man in a long time. The last man he considered calling a ‘boyfriend’ was his college roommate’s friend with whom he’d had a fling over the course of a weekend. He hadn’t ever considered calling Gibbs a ‘boyfriend’ even if Gibbs made a move out in the open.

He was now faced with the task of trying to suppress his feelings for Gibbs to give way for Riley now that things were heading in a real direction. He knew it wouldn’t be an easy. He loved Gibbs, but if Gibbs was able to have Colonel Hollis Mann and manage whatever other feelings he had, then Tim was able to have Agent Riley Mathis and manage his feelings for Gibbs.

He also had to figure out what, if anything, to say to Tony and Ziva. Even after all the thinking he was doing, a grin was cemented on his face with no sign of departure and it would surely draw out more gossip between his partner agents. He strutted into the besieged coffee shop near NCIS still grinning but still looking for a plausible explanation. He looked at a rack of magazines and newspapers while he waited and his eyes landed on a copy of Forbes. The cover advertised an article about the first iPhone and its upcoming launch. While Tim had pre-ordered his from the moment the pre-sales started, he had kept that nugget of joy aside so he could see Tony’s face when Tim got the phone before him. _‘Ah, Riley’s worth it,’_ he thought to himself as he settled on his excuse for his untamed glee.

NCIS

Cole bounced his knee nervously as he looked around the empty interrogation room. He had been in an FBI holding cell overnight, then he was dumped into this room two hours ago by his estimation. There was no clock in the room and they had taken his watch when they arrested him at the internet café in Fort Worth, Texas. He knew he’d be in trouble, but he hoped that someone would take pity on an antisocial 20-year-old community college dropout. OMNI told him that if he kept his silence he would be taken care of, but warned him that revealing any secrets would mean certain, painful death. He figured the ‘painful death’ threat was just a ploy and he’d just be left to rot in a cell, which didn’t seem much worse than his normal life other than the lack of pizza delivery and piggybacking off a neighbor’s internet for free.

The room was fairly small and cramped, and strangely cold for Dallas. The metal table where he sat seemed to forget his body heat as soon as he lifted his hands from the table for any reason. The cuffs binding him to the table kept their warmth, but their tight grip wasn’t a comfort. The wall he faced had one-way glass in the center with a camera hovering over the glass, pointing down at an angle towards him.

He was startled when the door opened, but was taken more off guard by the agent that walked through. She was tall and slender with long, wavy blonde hair that wound down the right side of her neck down to the front of her black business suit. Her large bust strained against her purple blouse and gave her an hourglass figure that stuck Cole’s eyes wide open in shock. She glided gracefully from the door with a thick file in her hand and a stern, yet soft, look on her round, made-up face.

“I’m Special Agent Evelyn Hall,” she stated with a smooth and light Alabama drawl.

Cole tried to keep his focus on the table and not let his eyes drift upward.

She continued, “I’d normally start by asking a couple of questions about why you’re here, but I think you already know exactly what got you stuck in this position.”

Cole remained silent as instructed.

She flipped open her folder and sorted out a couple of pictures and documents. “Cole Hubbard, born July 1986, and not a whole lot to know about you since then.”

Silence.

“College dropout, you live with your aunt outside Fort Worth, no job or much of a job history. So, how does someone like that manage to hack the FBI?”

Cole’s chin quivered but he kept his eyes steady.

“I mean, you obviously don’t like to display your talent when it counts for something good in your life, so what brought you to attacking us? Were you just bored, or desperate for some money?”

He caught himself briefly glimpsing from her manicured nails up to the strained middle button on her blouse, then looked down again.

The motion was noticed by the Agent, who narrowed her eyes and gave a knowing smile. “Ah, I see.” Knowing her back was to the camera, she reached a hand up and undid one button of her blouse, revealing the start of the crease between her breasts. “So it was the attention? The respect? OMNI offered you a chance to be someone a _woman_ wanted?”

Cole’s breath quickened at the sight of her pale flesh. The room suddenly wasn’t as cold as he thought.

“Well you’ve been caught now, Cole. And I _really_ hate to say it, but there ain’t much here that makes you valuable enough for them to bail you out. You’re on your own now.” She straightened herself up in her chair to push her chest out further. “These charges will get you at least ten if not twenty years. Now we can work that down, Cole, we just need your help and cooperation. Why did OMNI have you try to hack us?”

Cole’s eyes faltered for a moment, and Hall knew she was on the way to breaking him.

After no response, Hall continued, “We know they paid you. And we know about this,” she slid out a picture of Cole’s wrist, taken while a UV light shone on it to reveal his OMNI designation. “Hmm, ‘0551,’ that makes you pretty new to OMNI from what we know. But maybe you’ve been with them just long enough to know a couple of things, maybe make a couple of friends? Is that what you wanted, Cole? Friends and money? Someone that wanted to say _‘Screw you’_ to Uncle Sam just like you? Some way to get out of that little hole you’ve stuck yourself in and have people look up to you instead of down?”

At the mention of friends, Cole doubled his efforts to steel himself from revealing anything. He remembered the feeling when he received the brand-new laptop in the mail from strangers he never met. It was the nicest gift anyone ever gave him, but they still didn’t pester him with anything but small computer tasks and let him be. He thought them paying for a hidden tattoo was a bit strange, but he just assumed it was something for fun.

“No, you don’t need friends, do you? Your psych profile says you’re more of a loner anyway. So…” she started to toy with the middle button between her breasts, “what exactly is it that makes you want to impress certain _other_ people?”

No response.

“You ain’t gonna impress anyone from prison. And with no one to actually want you around, that ain’t a good position to be in. But on the other hand, you have the opportunity to be in a _great_ position,” she emphasized the word by popping the button on her blouse, revealing more of her bosom and small strips of her black lace bra. As she hoped, the tissues she had stuffed into her bra worked to her benefit and were safely hidden. “All we need from you is who you were communicating with and what they were after in our servers. We know this wasn’t your idea, Cole, but we need more. The more you give us and the more we find, the more comes off that sentence. It’s not too late to fix all this.”

Cole’s eyes were frozen on the pair of breasts. He knew he needed an out, quickly. Breaking his silence, he finally whimpered, “I… uh… I want a lawyer.”

Agent Hall threw her head back laughing heartily. “This- this ain’t a movie, honey. You’re in an FBI hole in Dallas where no one even cares who you are, and you’re facing charges of felony computer hacking and espionage. No one will want to touch this case. The only thing people know about you is they want you out of the way, and you ain’t got enough money or reputation to get a lawyer anywhere _close_ to what you’ll need to make this any easier on you.” She pushed a notepad and pencil towards him. “We don’t need your confession, you’re way ahead of just being guilty. Just give me the email and phone number of your OMNI contact and I guarantee we can lower the charges.”

He looked at the notepad, but still held on to hope of being set free by OMNI without having to admit anything.

“They’re not coming for you, Cole. You have to have realized by now that you were set up to fail by OMNI, so screw ‘em. Our other offices already picked up the two boys helping you, and they’ve already rolled over. They told us about the death threats, Cole, but they’re safe and so are you. Whoever you think OMNI is, they don’t care enough about you to try to kill you, much less rescue you. You just wanna be left alone? Fine. Give us what we need and we can put this all behind us.”

He then remembered seeing someone hack into the new laptop to show him a live video feed of his house, making him remember that OMNI was very real and looking over his shoulder. At first he really did think it was a game, but being in an FBI interrogation room brought an aspect of realism to his situation. He shut his eyes and simply replied, “I don’t know anything.”

Hall smirked, then reached her left hand over to the side of the table and tapped it twice with her finger. After a second, she looked up over her shoulder to make sure the red light disappeared from the camera, and heard a single, soft knock on the glass. She turned back to Cole with a sly smile and started buttoning her blouse back up.

“You did well, Cole. We’re proud of you.”

He opened his eyes and lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

She smiled and explained, “We promised to take care of you if you didn’t say anything. It’s my job to deliver on that.”

There was a strange glint in her eyes that made Cole nervous. “What? What do you mean?”

She reached into the waistband of her pants and pulled out a small, white pill capsule. Pushing it towards him she added, “Take this. It’s a sedative that’ll drop your heart rate so we’ll rush you to the hospital where you’ll be freed by more operatives.”

He looked at the pill and had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Are… is this for real? No, this is just part of your interrogation.”

“For real. The camera’s off, interrogation’s over, we’ve got you covered. Let us get you out and you’re home free.”

“What? No, this is some messed up bullshit.”

Hall pulled a hair tie off her wrist and tightly pulled her hair up into a ponytail, then walked over to the switch on the wall and turned off the lights. The clicking of a small flashlight shone violet light onto the back of her neck just under her pulled-up hairline, revealing an OMNI designation “0319” glowing through her skin.

“Oh my god,” Cole breathed.

She clicked the room light back on and smoothed her hair down over the now-invisible tattoo as she sat. “Told you. We’ve got this covered.”

“It’s… it’s not on your wrist?”

She giggled, “Hell no, us federal agents don’t want our numbers easily seen. Go on, now.”

Cole looked back down at the pill. He’d seen enough movies to know that usually a busted spy was a dead spy. He didn’t consider himself a spy, but the shoe seemed to fit. “What’ll happen to me afterward?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. They haven’t told me, and that’s for both our sakes. All I know is I’m here to get you out and to a hospital, but we’re running out of time.” She crossed her arms and stared at him.

There was something dark in her eyes as she spoke, and he instantly had the urge to run. He looked around the room. “I… can’t we just wait until the lawyer gets here? Make something happen then?”

“We’re out of time, Cole. I have to start recording again soon. Take the pill.”

“I just don’t know.”

Her tone darkened. “Take the pill. _Now_.”

He was startled by the commanding tone in her voice, and sunk back in his chair. “I’m not going to wake up, am I?”

Her lips twisted into a depraved smile. “You’re smarter than you look on paper, that’s why we hired you. But you got caught and you’re of no use to us now.”

She swiped up the pill and whipped over to his side of the desk. Standing behind his chair, she pulled hard on his hair to wrench his head backward with one hand and pushed his chin down to try to open his mouth with the other. He struggled against her, but with his hands cuffed to the table it was difficult to move. He tried to stand but she forced him down again. She wrestled the pill behind his teeth and managed to drop it to the back of his mouth. He tried to keep it from going down his throat, but in the struggle he couldn’t stop himself from swallowing. He gasped for air as she released him, then she shoved him down to the table.

She quickly straightened out her appearance and sat on her side of the table facing him. “Believe me, this is quick and easy compared to what the other two will get for opening their mouths.” She then gave a hard nock on the table and listened for the sound of the camera powering back on.

He looked up at her with tears welling in his eyes. His gasps for air didn’t seem to help him and he found himself unable to speak.

“Cole, what is it?” she asked curiously and innocently.

Cole panicked as he felt a searing pain from his stomach and fire in his veins. He convulsed and felt something rising in his throat. When he coughed, he spat out blood and something else that bubbled rapidly on the table.

Agent Hall stumbled backwards out of her chair and slammed on the one-way glass, feigning shock and horror. “GET THE PARAMEDICS! WE’VE GOT A SUICIDE IN PROGRESS!”


	8. Chapter 7

NCIS

Time crawled for McGee as it always did when he had something to look forward to at the end of the day, but preparing paperwork for their case and analyzing evidence gave him something to do instead of thinking about Riley. His use of pre-ordering the first iPhone as an excuse for his happiness over his new relationship was well-received by Tony, who was more than willing to believe McGee would be that excited about a new phone. Ziva didn’t seem entirely convinced, but was too occupied with paperwork to actively pursue the subject.

After being summoned, McGee strolled into Abby’s lab still bearing the smile that even the first half of his workday couldn’t reduce. The music was turned down to an oddly low volume, and Abby was nowhere in sight.

“Wait!” Abby’s voice startled McGee as it called from the back room of the lab. A hand appeared in the rear lab door with one finger held up. “It’s… McGee?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“Ah-ha! I knew it,” she declared victoriously and walked into sight.

McGee raised his hands in confusion. “Er… Abby, you called me down here. Who else would it be?”

“I’m trying to design a Gibbs Warning System since he keeps sneaking up on me. I put a motion sensor in the hall and an alarm right here,” she gestured to a small device hooked to her skirt, “and it buzzed me when you walked through. I listened for the sound of your footsteps, and since I’m pretty sure Gibbs doesn’t make a sound when he moves I knew it had to be you instead of him sneaking up on me again.”

He was stunned and amused that she put that much thought into not being surprised by Gibbs. “That’s all?”

“No, just the icing on the cake. The _real_ reason I called you down here was to have you get a look at this.” She gestured to one side of the lab where Corporal Manning’s laptop lay on one of the lab tables under the windows.

McGee cracked his knuckles and pulled on a pair of gloves as he looked over the machine. He started examining the exterior and hummed with each new thing he found. “Yeah, I remember bagging this at the apartment. This looks new. _Really_ new. Is that a SIM card slot? I didn’t think they were integrating those yet.”

Abby smiled. “Sure is, and that’s why I brought you down here. I was surprised when I saw it too, so I checked with the manufacturer. This model _just_ finished prototype testing and has not yet even been put into mass production. I already pulled the specs.”

“Serial number?” McGee asked as he turned over the laptop in his hand.

“None on the case, but haven’t opened it up. Also no OEM sticker for the OS.”

McGee frowned thoughtfully, unintentionally hiding his smile for the first time that day. “That’s interesting. Pretty much all computers have serial numbers if not on the computers than at least on the parts. And most manufacturers put safeguards in the software preventing use if the computer finds out it’s running before a specific date. This means someone inside must’ve swiped it. Have you powered it on yet?”

“Not yet, I was waiting for you. Wanna take a crack at it?”

“Absolutely,” he replied while setting it down. “But what say we _not_ hook it up to your computer or the surge protector this time?”

“I know, I learned my lesson. Rest in peace, Bertha.” She sighed shamefully as she remembered destroying her previous computer last week by connecting a smartphone embedded with a fail-safe virus. The virus caused a power surge that destroyed not only the computer but the phone and its data as well. Director Shepard was not happy.

“Have you already copied the hard drive?”

“Not yet, just the SIM. I haven’t gotten a chance to reach out to the carrier for its data, yet. I couldn’t find any contacts in it, either.” She walked into the back of her lab and rolled out a cart containing a desktop computer setup and a standalone power supply to power it without being physically connected to NCIS in any way.

“Not surprised. For something with a data-only connection, there wouldn’t be. Dual core processor, 8 gigs of RAM in here, decent amount of computing power for a laptop. Wonder how a Navy Corporal got his hands on something like this before it was released to the public.”

“Or why an E dealer would need something like this,” Abby added.

He turned the computer over and unscrewed a panel to expose the hard drive. The drive slid out easily with McGee’s gentle hand, and he delicately moved it over to the desktop cart. Abby powered on the workstation and started running the drive cloning program that copied files without actually starting programs on the hard drive. McGee moved over to watch the program as it ran.

“Hmm, not much actually on there,” he noted.

Abby nodded in agreement. “I didn’t see any scuffs or really any marks on it. I don’t think Manning’s had it for very long or maybe just didn’t use it much.”

“Well it’s not just that, it’s not formatted like most drives. It’s like there’s a partition for the operating system, but the rest of the drive is raw and unmapped, so I’m not sure if I’m just copying junk data or actual files.”

Abby looked up and scowled. “That’s really strange for a laptop. That means there should be some kind of mapping file somewhere for him to be able to actually access that part of the drive.”

The program completed the copy of the drive, and McGee gently placed it back in the laptop. He noticed something wide and black under the drive. It was made of thick paper and stamped with the manufacturer’s logo. Just under the stamp was a sticker that read _“Impact Absorbing Material, Do Not Remove.”_ He had never seen that in a laptop before, but when he checked the manufacturer’s specifications, _“HDD Impact Absorption”_ was listed as a safety feature. He secured the hard drive and sealed the laptop’s bay. “Alright, let’s see what this thing can do,” he mumbled while lifting the screen and pressing the power key.

The screen powered on and flashed a couple of images before lines of text started to appear.

_**PRE-BOOT AUTHORIZATION CHECK**_

_INSERT AUTHENTICATION KEY_

_PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE >_

McGee narrowed his eyes. “Authentication key, let’s see…” He tried tapping several keys and attempted a few workarounds, but his usual tricks didn’t work. “Wait, it wants us to enter a key but doesn’t let us hit anything but Enter?”

A light clicked on in Abby’s head. “Wait, maybe it’s a physical key.” She quickly turned to the evidence bin and started rifling through the various bags. She finally picked out a bag with a silver USB drive.

McGee nodded as the idea also clicked in his mind. “Of course! Companies use secure drives for authentication all the time. It’s like an ID badge for your computer, and the USB drive could also contain the mapping file for the hard drive.”

Abby unsealed the evidence bag and connected the drive to the standalone computer. When the drive powered on, nothing happened. She kept checking and re-checking the computer but she couldn’t open the drive. “Hey, look at this.”

McGee moved over next to her. “Hm... Yeah, there it is. The mapping file, and a whole bunch of other programming but not in a format this computer recognizes.”

“Let’s connect it to the laptop and see if that will recognize it.”

McGee took the USB drive and connected it to the laptop, then pressed Enter.

The screen suddenly lit up white with a large power symbol in black in the center of the screen. Underneath the symbol read _“0MN1 OSv3.0”_ in small type.

McGee’s jaw dropped. “Abby… this is…”

The screen then flashed and ran its boot sequence.

_AUTENTICATION KEY VALIDATED_

_LOADING MOBILE BROADBAND MODULE CONFIGURATION…_

_MOBILE BROADBAND CONNECTION SECURED, PARSING LOCATION DATA FOR AUTHENTICATION…_

_WARNING: LOCATION PARAMETERS EXCEEDED_

_AUTHENTICATION FAILED_

_SELF-DESTRUCT COMMENCING_

McGee’s eyes went wide. “Self-destruct?!”

Abby shrieked, “McGee, get back! It’s gonna _french-fry_!”

McGee managed to swipe the USB drive out of the port just before a shower of sparks and thick black smoke erupted from the keyboard. Abby yanked him back by the collar and pulled them both away as flames shot out of the laptop. The hard drive exploded inside the computer with a loud pop and the shattering of silicone and plastic. McGee and Abby took cover behind another lab table and clapped their hands over their ears as the lab’s smoke alarms blared. They both peeked back in shock at the laptop that was now engulfed in white flames and still erupting with a fountain of sparks. When they saw white-hot molten metal dripping down over the top of the table to an empty shelf below, they looked at each other in shock and darted for the exit. Abby slammed down the emergency ventilation button as soon as the door was shut, and all the air was vented out of the lab. The alarm was still blaring and a strobe light was flashing overhead, but both agents took deep breaths of relief.

After a minute, the display on the wall indicated that the lab was fully vented and re-pressurized for safe entry. They opened the door and were both grateful to see that the damage seemed confined to the table area, and that the ventilation successfully suffocated the fire. They observed the smoldering ruins of the laptop from a distance. Much of the laptop’s plastic had melted together and still-glowing molten metal was settling underneath the laptop and where it had dripped on the floor.

Abby stared with morbid fascination before nudging McGee. “I think I know what brand I’m never buying again.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yeah… yeah I’m with you on that.”

“What the hell was in that thing?”

“I have no idea. Did you see what I saw on the screen before it blew?”

“Yeah, something about ‘location parameters?’”

“Before that. The power symbol and ‘0MN1 OS,’ did you see that? That’s OMNI’s symbol.” He scratched his chin but never blinked as he stared at the destruction.

“Who?”

“OMNI, that hacker group Riley told us about, the one I heard about online.” He held up the USB drive and looked at it suspiciously, almost afraid that it too might explode.

_‘They try to hide a USB drive in these drug deals so they get different gangs to do stuff for them,’_ Riley’s voice echoed in McGee’s head from that morning.

“Manning was a PCP dealer…” McGee mumbled. “We should get Gibbs.”

“What, McGee?”

Gibbs’ voice from the doorway startled them both. He wasn’t out of breath, but he showed signs of having rushed from wherever he was to the lab. Abby’s jaw dropped as she looked down at her pager that gave no warning of his arrival.

She rolled her eyes and tossed aside the pager from her skirt. “This thing is useless. Maybe bubble wrap next time.”

Gibbs would’ve smirked but even Abby’s antics couldn’t shake the alarmed and protective look on his face. “What happened here? Are you both alright?”

“We’re fine. The laptop had some kind of self-destruct mechanism rigged with an accelerant or explosive,” McGee explained. “We started by making a backup of the hard drive. Then when we started the computer, it asked for an authentication key, then it looks like it used a mobile connection through the built-in SIM card-”

“-McGee!” Gibbs cut him off and placed a hand on their shoulders, gently but firmly. He gave both of them a scolding look. “If the two of you had opened the laptop and made a backup of the hard drive, how did you both miss an explosive sitting in it? You both could’ve been killed!”

McGee gritted his teeth and looked down shamefully. “I think the accelerant was contained in a pouch under the drive casing. The pouch said that it was an impact absorber, which is used to protect hard drives in certain rugged laptops given to military and field technicians. The manufacturer confirmed that was part of the specs, but I still should’ve checked it better.”

“Me too,” Abby admitted. “I looked, and all I saw were wires that looked like they just connected to the right components. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.”

The look in Gibbs’ eyes was a mixture of disappointment and concern, but McGee mainly felt the effects of the former. He felt a small tremor from one of Gibbs’ hands just before he released them.

Gibbs sighed. “Are you alright? Was anything else damaged?”

Abby looked around at the evidence crate and the nearby machinery, but appeared satisfied. “All the evidence is still sealed and fine. I’m fine, I guess”

“And we saved this,” McGee held up the USB drive. “It’s some kind of access key that Manning had. The laptop asked for it before it blew up. But I think we should contact the FBI.”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, still not quite at ease with the situation. “Why?”

“I think Manning’s laptop came from a cybercrime group called OMNI. Riley, er-” _‘Idiot!’_ “-Special Agent Mathis could provide us with insight into it.”

Gibbs eyed McGee suspiciously after his slip-up. McGee wasn’t quite sure what he was reading in Gibbs’ eyes, but Gibbs shifted his gaze away from McGee’s eyes and focused on the laptop.

“What would that have to do with our PCP dealer?”

“He, um, Mathis said that drives like this get distributed through drug deals, and if Manning was given this drive from his supplier, that means he could be involved in something more than just drugs. Even if not, there could be something like a client list on the USB drive. Mathis said he’s gotten data from them before.”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he considered it, but still didn’t look back at McGee. “You know how I feel about joint investigations. Get everything you can from that mess, and bring in Mathis tomorrow. Make sure he knows the case stays with NCIS.” He turned and left the lab without looking at either of his subordinates.

McGee suddenly felt worried that Gibbs was hurt by his mention of Riley, which went against his prior knowledge of Gibbs. _‘No, Gibbs doesn’t get uncomfortable like that. He was just worried that we might’ve gotten hurt. He wouldn’t think I’m seeing Riley just because I called him by his first name. He wouldn’t care if he thought I was seeing anyone anyway. But if that’s the case, then what just happened? He almost looked… guilty. Could that look mean he actually did have some kind of feelings for me last night? It wasn’t just the… whatever’s been going on all this time? But Riley and I just-’_

His thoughts were interrupted by Abby snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Hey, wake up. You ok? You look like a deer caught in headlights.”

He tried to shake it off. “No, nothing. I was just…”

“You know, you’ve been acting a bit odd. You came in all smiles, which isn’t entirely unusual, but then you mentioned Riley to Gibbs and… OH!” She gasped and pointed a finger up to McGee’s face. “Something happened with Riley, didn’t it? Something good? Come on, after all this crazy, please let it be something good!”

He felt his cheeks betray a shade of pink. Upon remembering that morning, his smile returned and held his worries about Gibbs at bay. “Yeah, it did. He’s back in town, I saw him this morning, and I’m actually seeing him again tonight after work.”

She looked expectantly at him. “And? What did you talk about?”

McGee looked over at the door to make sure they were alone before replying, “He said he really likes me, and he’s interested in a relationship.”

Abby grinned and bounced on her feet in excitement. “That’s great! Alright, let’s get to work then. We gotta get all this analyzed and get you outta here! I’ll start gathering trace evidence to see what accelerant was used to cause the fire, you check the hard drive backup to see if you can get around the authentication.”

McGee turned to his task but was still distracted by the encounter with Gibbs. He knew he would have to keep his own feelings for Gibbs in check, but he had always assumed Gibbs wasn’t even aware of them. Now he wasn’t sure exactly what Gibbs felt, which made his internal balancing act much more difficult. He suddenly wasn’t sure what to do, and was once again only left with the option to focus on work until he had time to think.

NCIS

By the time Abby and McGee called Gibbs down to the lab, the smell of burnt computer components and metal had finally abated. They had worked furiously for hours trying to decipher the contents of the laptops hard drive and the USB drive, as well as determining the connection to OMNI. Abby had removed the table from her lab and put it aside as evidence, and both she and McGee were feeling the exhaustion from prolonged, uninterrupted focus.

“What do you got?” Gibbs asked per usual as he swept into the lab. He carried a _‘Caf-POW!’_ cup and a coffee cup in his hands and set them on the workstation.

Abby and McGee simultaneously grasped their beverages and slurped gratefully. McGee had felt guilt gnawing at him for hours, and he hoped that the coffee was a gesture of forgiveness. He pointed towards Abby, letting her go first as they had rehearsed.

She turned to her screen and pulled up a result sheet from her mass spectrometer. “Ok, so the first thing is that the PCP we found in Manning’s apartment matched perfectly with what we found in our dead marine, even down to the Ecstasy candy tablet appearance, so he’s definitely our dealer. The PCP was tainted with the same mixture of diazepam as with our marine’s stash, the same failed experiment, trying to keep the aggression down while experiencing the trip. But that means if Manning tried his own E, he either knew it was tainted PCP and was committing suicide, or he didn’t know it was PCP.”

Gibbs scanned over the screen. “Corporal Manning is in the hospital in a coma from his overdose, so he’s not going anywhere. Get a sample to match what he took just to be sure.”

“Secondly, we know what actually blew up the laptop.” She reached over to the table behind the workstation and held up an evidence bag with a small, charred metal cylinder inside. “This is an igniter used for model rockets. It was tied to the computer’s power line, so when the computer’s authentication failed it sent a power spike to the igniter, which triggered fuses made out of gunpowder and magnesium, which then ignited a deposit of thermite positioned around the hard drive. Unfortunately, the thermite/aluminum mixture looks like it was something made with consumer-grade materials, so really anyone could’ve made it. Nonetheless it melted the hard drive down and made it totally unreadable.” She nodded over to McGee.

“But like we said, we had already made a backup, so there’s still a chance for recovery and figuring out where all this came from and what it means,” he explained, hoping Gibbs would look at him again.

McGee paused to try and read Gibbs, wondering if he was still unhappy with him. Abby looked from Gibbs to McGee during the moment of silence, but said nothing to break it. Gibbs looked directly into McGee’s eyes but betrayed no sign of emotion. He seemed strictly back to business, which at least for McGee meant he was not upset.

McGee suddenly remembered himself and began, “We then made several additional backups of the drive in case the software in it had other kinds of protection, which it did.” He pointed to two desktops that laid disconnected next to the standalone workstation. “When the OS didn’t detect the hardware it needed to check for the computer’s location, it sent a power surge through the motherboard and fried most of the circuitry. It did some damage to the hard drive, but with no fuses or thermite to light it didn’t catch on fire. It also tried to destroy this,” he held up the USB drive. “It’s a hardware authentication key with a file format I’ve never seen before, but it also contains the drive map to get us access to the raw data in the hard drive. We managed to pull it out of the computer before each self-destruct, so it’s still intact. Even better, with the repeat tests, we got a glimpse into the OMNI OS. It’s a completely original operating system with its own kernel, drivers, APIs, you name it.”

He paused for a moment to make sure that Gibbs was following along and that a head-slap wasn’t imminent, then tapped a few keys on the workstation. He brought up a diagram showing his findings and displayed it on the large, wall-mounted screen. “We managed to find a set of system calls that the OS uses for its authentication. They were universally formatted so we were able to interpret them, but it’s about all we were able to get before the data got too heavily encrypted. It first checks for the key, which feeds back a list of hardware information that the OS should find. After checking the hardware, it makes a connection through a cell phone carrier to check for the location, which is matched to a range of coordinates also fed back by the drive. Then it requires an ID number entered by the user to complete the login. If anything after the first step fails, the system scans the hardware and damages it in any way possible.”

Gibbs began looking disinterested because of the technical terms, but still absorbed the information as best as he could. “So other than a very secure hard drive, have you found any evidence tying him to that cyber group?”

Abby shook her head. “No. We don’t have any OMNI data to compare with any of this. Even the account made for the cellular data access was in his name and paid with cash. He had made several cash deposits into his bank account but no wire transfers. No money trail for us to follow.”

Gibbs looked straight at McGee for a split-second before looking back to the screen. “Contact Mathis to assist with deciphering the drive tomorrow, but the case stays with NCIS. Good work, both of you.”

Gibbs walked out of the lab leaving Abby and McGee to ponder their next steps.

“Should we still feel bad about almost burning down the lab?” Abby asked quietly.

McGee sighed, still feeling pangs of guilt. “You did match the PCP so we’re on the right trail, and we did everything possible to decipher the drive, but we still need Riley’s help. Do you think he’ll do it?”

“Definitely,” she replied mysteriously. “Do you really think he’d turn down a chance to kick your ass in this lab after that _Risk_ game?”

McGee’s eyes widened and his face suddenly lost a little bit of color.

NCIS

It was nearly 10 PM when Tim pulled into the parking lot of Riley’s building. He felt excited for the night that lay ahead of him, but he still felt exhausted and disappointed from his workday. He was glad he kept a backpack with a change of work and casual clothes in his car since he wasn’t sure if Riley would ask him to spend the night. He hoped that would be the case, though he left the bag in the car so it wouldn’t appear that he was assuming anything. He figured he could always go back and get it later. He wandered the halls trying to remember his way to Riley’s apartment, and finally found the door. As he knocked, he heard the sound of soft music playing and thought he recognized the tune, but then the door swung open.

Riley stood with a broad smile on his face, wearing a t-shirt, long plaid pajama pants, and frameless glasses that Tim had never seen him wear before. He appeared to be much more rested and had more color to his clean-shaven face. His hair had also been tamed and the bags under his eyes seemed to have reduced. With his glasses on, Riley looked much more like the kind of guy Tim imagined reading books at home or staring at computer screens, and less like the man he remembered pole-dancing shirtless at a nightclub. Tim had missed the look of Riley’s deep blue eyes when they sparked with happiness, and he couldn’t help but smile as they drew him in.

“Hey there,” Riley greeted through his grin. 

Tim couldn’t even say anything when his body took over and closed the small distance between him and Riley. Their lips hastily found each other while Tim closed the door behind him. The entire day melted away with the soft touch of Riley against him. He pulled Riley closer by his waist while Riley slid his arms up over Tim’s shoulders. Riley stood on the tips of his toes to try to be closer in height to Tim, and hummed as he quietly broke the kiss and nuzzled his face up against Tim’s.

Tim finally whispered, “Hey.”

Riley chuckled. “I’ll have to remember to open with ‘Hey there.’ Seems to be effective.”

Tim smiled and shook his head. “Been thinking about you all day. Then here you are all relaxed, waiting for me, wearing sexy glasses…”

“Oh it was the _glasses_ , I see. I only wear them when I’m reading or driving at night. Probably comes from staring at screens for too much of my life. Come on in, make yourself comfortable.”

Tim begrudgingly released Riley so he could take off his coat and shoes. He wore his work clothes so often he had learned to be comfortable in them anywhere, but unbuttoning his shirt all the way down helped him feel much more casual. The apartment was dimly lit except for an off-white light shining over the chaise in the living room, but Riley quickly crossed over to a panel next to the kitchen and turned up the lights. Tim took a moment to recognize the music quietly playing from the entertainment console.

_Everyone knows I’m in over my head, over my head._

_With eight seconds left in overtime, she’s on your mind, she’s on your mind._

Tim grinned when Riley looked back at him. “I love this band!”

Riley bounced lightly with the music as he padded through the kitchen. “Yeah, they’re one of my favorites. I put on music sometimes when I read, and this was one of the CDs still in my stereo. You want something to drink?”

Tim sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island. “Sure, whatever you’re having. What were you reading?”

“ _The Hobbit_ , which also inspired tonight’s snack.” Riley opened a brown glass bottle with a hiss and handed it to him. “Brown ale and Pillsbury biscuits.”

Tim chuckled as he took the bottle. “Ah yes, I’m sure the dwarves’ first choice was Brooklyn Brown Ale when gathering supplies for the trip.”

Riley retrieved a small plate of biscuits from the end table next to the chaise and sat next to Tim at the counter. “You know it. Can’t trek about Middle Earth without a good supply of carbs. Oh, how was work today?”

“Rough,” Tim replied before taking a sip.

“Oh?” he mumbled through a mouthful of biscuit.

“We retrieved a laptop with OMNI’s OS on it.”

A grim look crept over Riley’s face. “Was anyone hurt?”

“No, but we nearly burned down Abby’s lab. It was rigged with thermite for a self-destruct sequence. Melted clean through the hard drive and the table it was on.”

Riley heaved a sigh of relief. “You got lucky. Some of them have lines of detonating cord running through them that could kill you if you’re too close. You didn’t x-ray it before starting it up?”

Tim shook his head. “No, we didn’t know we needed to. It came from a drug dealer bust, and we didn’t know our guy had ties to OMNI until the computer started. We saved his authentication key and a backup of his hard drive, but since you’ve done it before we could use your help cracking them and investigating OMNI. I know you just had a terrible week, but would you mind helping us?”

“ _I_ don’t mind,” Riley shrugged, “but the FBI would have to officially be involved. And asking for help and making it a joint investigation doesn’t sound like Gibbs.”

“Gibbs wants the case to stay at NCIS,” Tim explained through a yawn, “and he said to make sure you knew that.”

Riley snorted. “Ok, now _that_ sounds more like Gibbs.”

Tim shut his eyes and rested his head gently down against the counter. “Mmhm.”

Riley slipped down from his stool and started gently massaging Tim’s neck and shoulders. “I’m hoping that isn’t the only reason you came…”

Tim groaned with relief as he replied, “Not at all. I came for you, and for that very important conversation about you and me getting together.”

“I see, then we might have a problem,” Riley whispered.

Tim tensed and lifted his head in surprise. “Huh?”

“ _Rule Twelve: Never date a coworker,”_ Riley replied without stopping his hands on Tim’s back.

“Oh crap,” Tim grunted.

Riley hummed in agreement. He tugged Tim towards him and whispered, “If we start working together instead of making you my guy, I couldn’t do this…” He slid his hand down Tim’s chest and up under his shirt. “Or this,” he nipped at Tim’s ear soliciting a moan from the man, and continued, “and especially not this.”

Sitting on the high stool Tim was level with Riley, so it was easy for him to be swiveled around and pulled in close for a soft kiss. The fire was back in Riley’s eyes, and Tim wanted to feel it again. Tim snaked his arms around Riley and gripped him tight.

Riley snickered and broke the kiss. “On the other hand, we technically wouldn’t start working together until tomorrow. Then tomorrow could…” he used pauses to give teasing kisses between words, “be… _just… for work_?”

Tim rested a hand on Riley’s hip and smiled at their phrase. He figured Riley was testing the waters to make sure Tim was truly on board for their relationship, so Tim knew he had to take more of a lead than he was used to. He knew they were technically crossing the line about _Rule Twelve_ even then, but something about Riley made him want to see it through. “As long as that offer stays open until after the case. I intend to take it.”

“It will,” Riley breathed. “I only have room for one redwood tree.”

Tim slowly stood and held Riley while they kissed. He smiled as the familiar drums and piano of another song from the album played on the stereo.

_If I don’t say this now, I will surely break,_

_As I’m leaving the world I want to take._

He reached his other hand up to Riley’s face and stroked it with his thumb. He whispered, “I love this song.”

“Me too,” Riley breathed.

Riley’s tongue met Tim’s, and he pulled in the direction of the bedroom. He fiddled with Tim’s belt while Tim pulled it off his button-down shirt. Without breaking the kiss, Riley set his glasses gently down on the dresser and stepped out of his pajama pants.

Tim suddenly remembered something on his mind and broke the kiss, but still held Riley close. “Wait, if I’m your redwood tree, what would that make you?”

Riley pondered the question for a moment, still keeping his arms up over Tim’s shoulders.

“How about you, and you alone, get to call me your Hobbit,” Riley laughed and he pulled them both down onto the bed.

Tim laughed with him and took another moment just to look into Riley’s eyes, and smiled as he heard the music still playing in the living room.

_Oh, woah,_

_Oh, woah,_

_Be my baby._

_I'll look after you._

Tim felt more than just carnal desires driving him. Warmth spread through him when he looked at Riley, a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time, a warmth no physical object could provide. The way Riley looked back at him made him think Riley was feeling the same thing, and he savored it. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he reconnected his lips to Riley’s and locked their hands together. Riley slowly slid his legs around Tim’s hips and pulled him down gently against him. Riley nibbled down Tim’s jaw to his neck, then slid one hand down to Tim’s ass to knead it through his suit pants. Tim gasped and thrust against him, then brought his own hands down into Riley’s boxers to cup his buttocks. Riley hooked an arm around Tim’s back to lift himself off the bed enough to slide his boxers down. Tim pulled back and removed his pants and underwear as Riley threw his own to the side, then they both pulled off their shirts and rejoined their bodies.

They each explored the other with their hands while their tongues danced intricately. Tim’s achingly hard cock rubbed against Riley’s leg while Riley’s pressed against Tim’s navel. Tim brushed his thumb over one of Riley’s nipples, causing Riley to gasp and lay his head back. Tim took advantage of Riley’s exposed neck and gently latched on with his teeth. Riley moaned and clutched tightly at Tim’s skin. He gently pressed down on Tim’s shoulders, which Tim understood and started mouthing his way down Riley’s chest. Tim traced a trail with his tongue down Riley’s lightly sculpted chest to his left thigh where he took a moment to appreciate the artistry in the griffin’s tail coiling its way around. He began nipping at the tattooed flesh while Riley ran fingers through his hair.

Riley grinned as he remarked, “I’m very impressed with your interrogation prowess, Special Agent McGee. It’s a shame I don’t have any military secrets to tell.”

Tim snickered and eyed Riley’s twitching shaft as his next target. He slid his hands from Riley’s thighs up to his torso while blowing cool air across Riley’s cock. Tim swiped up the ridge of Riley’s stiffness with his tongue and engulfed it in a downward swoop. Riley’s fingers eagerly kneaded his scalp while Riley’s pleasured yelps resonated around the room. The cool air across Tim’s back did little to combat the heat building where they lay on the bed. He gently brushed a finger against Riley’s quivering hole, making Riley’s back arch and his muscles tense. He swirled his tongue around Riley’s cock as he bobbed up and down, and smiled as he heard the faint rustling of a nearby drawer being opened and shut.

Tim slid his hands and body slowly up Riley’s chest until their mouths and hands reunited. Riley smiled and gently rolled Tim to the side where he then climbed on top, sitting with Tim’s throbbing cock against his ass. Riley returned the favor of feeling Tim’s body all over with his hands and mouth, charting each curve as if to devote it to memory. Tim felt around with a free hand and found the lube and condom Riley had brought out. Riley picked up the condom and ripped open the package. He gyrated against Tim while rolling it skillfully down behind his back. Riley gently slicked himself and Tim with lube and began slowly lowering himself down. He chewed at his lower lip and tilted his head back as he inched Tim inside him, and Tim reached out with one hand to cup Riley’s cheek.

“Is it ok?” he asked worriedly.

Riley rubbed his face into Tim’s hand and smiled. “It’s great, really great. Just hitting all my spots again.”

Tim smiled and took Riley’s other hand in his own. Riley took Tim completely inside and started slowly rising and falling. He pressed his free hand onto Tim’s chest to support himself. Tim could feel the tightness of Riley’s hole begin to loosen as it adjusted to Tim’s cock. Riley grunted as he began riding Tim harder and harder. Even through the condom, Tim could feel the softness of Riley’s insides rhythmically gripping and releasing as he moved up and down. Riley was in control on top, but Tim still wanted to prove take initiative for him. He began bucking his hips up to meet Riley and felt the fire building in his balls.

Riley slowed for a moment and mumbled while stroking himself. “Oh fuck yeah, oh that’s it, that’s it, right there!”

Tim kept his rhythm steady to Riley’s liking. He groped Riley’s thighs and massaged them while Riley’s breathing became shallower. Riley leaned down and locked eyes with Tim as he slowed and elongated his motion. Riley’s eyes were those of a caged animal demanding to be set free, and he wanted Tim to deliver that freedom. The look made Tim’s blood rush and his heart pound, and he gripped Riley tighter knowing he couldn’t hold off anymore.

“Riley…” he panted raggedly as he felt his own muscles sending jolts through him.

“Tim… with me… I can’t…”

“Riley… I’m cumming!”

“YES!”

Tim felt the surge race from his balls up his cock, sending shockwaves through his body as it went. Riley gripped him tight with his ass and his legs, pressing down harder against his chest to take as much of Tim’s throbbing cock as he could. He grunted loudly and threw his head back as his cock fired shot after shot across Tim’s chest. Tremors ripped down his body around Tim’s cock, and he finally collapsed onto Tim’s chest.

Tim saw stars as he tried to catch his breath. He felt heat coming off him and Riley in waves, and even with the sticky feeling of Riley’s cum between their chests, he would’ve been more than fine never having to move again. Riley nuzzled his face next to Tim’s, and Tim instinctively slid his hands up Riley’s damp back to hold him close. Tim didn’t know how long they were just lying there, but they stayed still as the last song finished on the CD and the stereo changed to another disc that played soft piano and jazz music.

Tim hummed and smiled into Riley’s cheek. His voice barely perked above a whisper, trying desperately not to break the softness of the space. “You sure you didn’t raid my apartment for music?”

Riley scoffed sleepily and gently nipped at Tim’s ear. “No. Just my relaxing music.”

He was starting to feel the cum between them begin to dry and his softening cock had already slipped out of Riley, but he still didn’t want to move Riley off of him. He was sure that his face was glowing as it always did after orgasm, but for once he didn’t feel self-conscious about it. Tim turned his head to be nose-to-nose with Riley. The world was the size of the bed around them, so he only needed to whisper softly. “So what now?”

Riley played with Tim’s nose using his own while he thought about it, and also replied under his breath, “Well, given the whole work think we can’t exactly date right now. But I’m not planning on going anywhere if you’re not.”

Tim smiled and brought a hand up to hold Riley’ cheek. “That sounds good to me. I’m not exactly very public about that kind of thing anyway, but yeah, I’d like to see what happens.”

Riley grinned. “Would it still be called ‘boyfriends’ at our age? Or does it start being ‘partners’ then?”

Tim’s brow scrunched as he thought about it, but he never broke eye contact. “We’re not _that_ old. I’m only 28. You’re what, 30?”

Riley lazily raised his head to look over Tim to see his alarm clock. “32.”

“Why would you need a clock to tell-” Tim’s eyes widened in horror. “Wait, is your birthday _tomorr-”_ he was shushed by Riley’s index finger on his lips.

“And I specifically didn’t tell you about because I didn’t want you to feel obligated to do anything.”

“But,” Tim tried murmuring through Riley’s finger, “now I want to do something.”

He pouted his lower lip against the fingertip, which made Riley look like his heart would melt.

“Oh my god, you and that lower lip…” Riley removed his finger and kissed the lower lip lightly before continuing, “You don’t have to do anything, especially since we aren’t actually dating yet. But since we technically start working together tomorrow morning, we should make the most of tonight, right?”

Tim’s heart was dancing in his chest. It had been a while since he felt openly desired, and the warmth he felt inside him from earlier seemed to still be in its place even after orgasm. He felt like he was falling in love, but wouldn’t admit it as it was much too soon for him to be thinking that way. There was much he didn’t know about Riley, but the glow of Riley’s eyes made him feel like no matter where they were headed, Riley would be there.

Tim decided to be coy as well and finally replied, “If you think so.”

A devilish grin crossed Riley’s face. “I do. And you know, I might just have you come back if you share the covers at night.”

Tim’s cheeks glowed red at the invitation. “What about your truck? It’s still at the diner.”

“Forget the truck,” Riley answered before silencing them both with his lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Lyrics from "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "Look After You" by The Fray
> 
> Stay safe, everyone!


	9. Chapter 8

NCIS

Tim was roused from his sleep by an urgent need to use the bathroom. He groggily stumbled out of bed and drifted to the left like he always did to reach the bathroom. He didn’t want to open his eyes in the hopes that he’d be able to go back to sleep, but he was forced out of his slumber by walking into a wall. When his eyes adjusted to the small amount of light, he looked around and suddenly remembered he was in Riley’s bedroom. Morning light peeked around the edges of the dark shade drawn over the window and shone dimly through the doorway from the living room. He slipped quietly across the room to the bathroom where he shut the door behind him as to not wake Riley by turning on the bathroom light.

He hadn’t really taken the time to notice the bathroom when he was brushing his teeth before bed, but as he stood relieving himself he looked around. The black stone tile was cold on his feet, and continued up the walls until it was contrasted by white tile and paint for the top half of the bathroom. The toilet and counter with the sink were white, and there was a large standing shower with a glass door and stainless steel faucets. The apartment looked expensive, but he wasn't leaping to conclusions about Riley's income given Tim owned a Porsche.

Tim noticed his overnight back perched on the sink counter and remembered rushing out to his car last night to retrieve it. It was nice not having to explain why he had a travel bag since Riley was already familiar with sudden and unexpected travel for work. It was nice not having to explain much of his work to Riley at all because he had done it all before. Tim usually found himself somewhat alienated from his dates when talking about work because he always had to be careful and use general terms. With Riley, he could relax and not have to be guarded about what he said because they both understood the other’s work. He was still nervous about sleeping with him when they were about to be on an investigation together, and he knew they’d have to figure out what to do to keep their relationship, or whatever they were, a secret.

He exited the bathroom and walked around to the other side of the bed, but he took a moment to look at Riley’s sleeping form before re-entering. Riley slept on his right side with one arm tucked under the pillow, the other curled up to his chest, his right leg under the covers and his left leg over them. Tim smiled as he looked down at him, watching as Riley gently stirred in his sleep. Tim noticed that Riley was maintaining his muscle tone well without being as bulky as he had been when they first met at the club. His chest had settled into a slim 6-pack that displayed fitness without bragging about it. His biceps broadened his short frame but were sculpted efficiently for agility, and they made Tim’s cock twitch whenever he saw them. He would’ve felt self-conscious again at seeing Riley’s body just like that first time, but knowing Riley really did want him boosted his esteem beyond that self-doubt.

He felt his heart tug him in the direction of the bed, and after seeing it was only 5:30 AM he decided he could do with another couple of hours of sleep. He gently snuck into bed and spooned up to Riley. Riley smiled and hummed, rubbed himself against Tim wordlessly and placed their hands together, then promptly slipped back to sleep.

Tim hadn’t had time to himself during the day to analyze his feelings, but lying awake in the near dark he finally did. Tim wasn’t sure if spending the night meant that they were moving too fast, but he couldn’t escape how good it felt to be wanted. Riley was trying to be cautious because he had been hurt before, which Tim easily understood. But when Riley wanted something, he asked openly asked for it while still being considerate about what Tim might want. Tim wasn’t used to that kind of reciprocation, even from Abby. Once their relationship started, she communicated only what _she_ wanted and didn’t leave much room for Tim’s needs.

With Gibbs there was simply no conversation. Gibbs never said anything about the subtle signals he gave Tim, nothing about his intentions, nor about leaving NCIS to live in Mexico after being injured in an explosion. Tim never told Gibbs how close he was to getting over the feelings he had when Gibbs finally came back. Coming back after all Gibbs had been through and still showing those little affections planted him firmly back in Tim’s heart and was making it impossible for Tim to simply give him up. He tried to get them alone multiple times after Gibbs had settled back in, but it never seemed to be the right time to tempt fate by openly asking Gibbs about what was happening. Tim made seemingly infinite allowances for Gibbs taking his time opening up because of those traumas, and of course the _Gibbs Rules_ played into it, but didn’t realize how much time he had spent waiting for it to happen. Riley showing up was starting to change his mind.

Riley called and wanted Tim to call, he came over and wanted Tim to come over, and he stayed when he could and wanted Tim to stay. Now they were on the way to being an official couple after only knowing each other a few weeks, and Tim’s feelings were becoming more intense than he expected this soon. He wanted to skip the complicated dating part of things and just be an established couple, but that wasn’t going to happen. Tim’s overthinking mind was his own worst enemy, but with Riley peacefully sleeping in his arms he resolved to get his feelings sorted out by the end of the case, however long or short it would be.

Tim’s mind spun in circles thinking about his feelings for both Riley and Gibbs until 6AM when he realized he wasn’t getting back to sleep. He slowly extracted himself from Riley and the bed, and crept out into the living room with boxers and a shirt from his bag. The living room was beginning to light up more with the sunrise coming in through the half-drawn blinds. He wanted to at least make breakfast for Riley since he was helping their case, so his first priority was the coffee machine. He tip-toed around the kitchen quietly opening cabinets of canned and boxed food until he found Riley’s coffee stash, and started the machine running a large pot. Next to the coffee machine, Tim found two bakery boxes stamped with yesterday’s date on them. The larger one was filled with fresh croissants and the smaller contained a single, large chocolate cupcake with “33” written in icing on top. Tim figured the bakery was within walking distance since Riley’s truck was still at the diner.

He smirked and closed both boxes, then moved on to the refrigerator. There were a few eggs that still seemed fresh, a new-looking half-gallon of milk, a few apples, and the leftover ale and biscuits. He opened the freezer and saw several _Lean Cuisines_ , meats, and various bags of vegetables and pierogi. Tim nodded and determined the best available meal option would be a croissant, apple, and two eggs each.

While the coffee was still brewing, Tim slowly walked around the living room. It was decently decorated, but didn’t exactly seem to be Riley’s style. It was attractively modern, though it all seemed like it came from the same catalogue page and – other than the bookshelf – didn’t seem to reflect Riley’s interests. Throughout the apartment he found only one picture of Riley in the entire room which was on a shelf of the entertainment center. Riley stood in front of a large fountain holding 2 framed Stanford degrees with a girl riding on his back holding one. The girl was even shorter than Riley, had a round face, thick black hair, and a mischievous smile. Riley looked younger and thicker than he did now, but Tim suspected that NCIS and FBI training played a part in his current physique.

He continued around the apartment and started looking through Riley’s library of books. It seemed to be organized by genre with only the book titles and authors to identify the sections. In what appeared to be the crime and mystery section he instantly recognized the new copy of _Deep Six_ and smiled. He wasn’t surprised to see an entire section devoted to well-worn _Star Wars_ novels, though he made a mental note to borrow one of the American Sign Language guides he found tucked in a corner. He also spotted the _Lord of the Rings_ collection with a book missing, but found _The Hobbit_ laying on the chaise in front of the bookshelf. He found the collection of six _Harry Potter_ books with a wide slot left for the upcoming seventh book, which Tim had yet to admit to anyone that he was also awaiting.

The coffee machine pierced the silence of the apartment with a high-pitched screech. Tim was startled by the alarm and heard Riley stirring in the bedroom. He walked through the doorway to see Riley waking up and starting to look around.

Riley’s eyes were barely open, but he smiled sleepily when he saw Tim walking towards him. “Mornin’. You’re up already?”

Tim sat down on the edge of the bed next to him and took his hand. “Yeah. Started some coffee but didn’t mean to wake you. I wanted to make us breakfast so I raided your kitchen.”

Riley’s eyes glistened like oceans as he looked up at Tim. He leaned forward and thumped his head gently against Tim’s chest. “I probably should’ve warned you that there’s not a lot there.”

“It’s enough,” Tim grinned and slid his arms around Riley. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

Riley smiled and lifted his head for a quick kiss, then sank back down to Tim’s shoulder. “Thanks,” he tiredly replied. “There’s a cupcake in the kitchen, do you want to split it with me?”

“Sure, but the birthday boy cuts it.” After a moment of holding him on the bed, Tim whispered, “I think if we keep doing this, one or both of us will go back to sleep.”

“You’re right, we probably should get a move on,” Riley murmured without moving.

“Yeah,” Tim agreed, also not moving other than nuzzling Riley’s cheek.

They stayed still for another minute, neither wanting to start the day. Riley silently laughed into Tim’s chest, but Tim could still feel the soft tremors of Riley’s laughs against him.

“Boy, some role-model agents we are,” Riley huffed.

Tim resigned himself to moving with a roll of his eyes and stood up. “Alright, let’s go. Do you want to shower before or after breakfast?”

Riley yawned before answering with another question, “Depends, do you want to shower together or separately? I did promise you a little reward if you didn’t hog the sheets.”

While Tim was intrigued by the idea of what Riley would do to him in the shower, he remembered his earlier thoughts and decided to be safe. “Let’s shower separately. We have to at least pretend to get in the mindset that we work together now.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Riley muttered disappointingly with a slow nod. He stood up and stretched, then continued, “I’ll get showered while you make breakfast?”

Tim tried to ignore the pang of disappointment he also felt and stood up. “On it. Apples, cupcake, and scrambled eggs ok?”

“That’s about all I’ve got. Walked to a little place down the street for the bare essentials after I got back.” Riley padded into the bathroom and Tim heard the shower sputter to life.

Tim nodded as his earlier guesses were confirmed, then went back to the kitchen to start the eggs. A few minutes later, Tim was just serving the eggs onto plates when the shower stopped.

Riley slowly emerged from the bedroom with the towel still around his waist. “Mm, smells good,” he mumbled while sitting down at the kitchen island. “I swear my fridge doesn’t always look like a divorced bachelor’s. I’ve just been so busy and away that I haven’t gotten to go grocery shopping. I actually can cook a little bit.”

Tim smiled and shook his head. “Don’t worry, I know what it’s like. It’s one reason I don’t have any pets.” He poured Riley a mug of coffee and handed it over. “I’d love to have a dog, honestly. I just don’t know if I have the time it takes to take care of one.”

“I’m sure you can find one that’s independent enough. I wouldn’t mind getting a dog myself, but then I’d have to get a dog-sitter and I’d have to get rid of any work stuff that I have here.”

Tim brought over the cupcake on a plate with a knife and handed it to Riley. Riley posed ceremoniously to draw a laugh from Tim before cutting it down the middle.

Tim looked around the apartment again before dividing up breakfast. “I like that picture of you and your friend. Was that when you graduated from Stanford?”

Riley nodded. “Yeah, my friend Sabrina went there with me. She’s the friend who decorated the place.”

“She must mean a lot if she’s in the only picture here. Was she ever more than just a friend?”

“No,” Riley replied with a devious smirk, knowing what Tim was getting at. “Nothing like that, though you’re not the first to wonder. She’s my best friend, and those are hard to come by so she got a spot here. I just don’t really keep a lot of my personal life here.”

“Oh…” Tim nodded, though he didn’t quite understand what Riley meant. He suddenly felt uneasy with the thought that staying overnight wasn’t as big of a deal to Riley as he thought it was. He remembered that Abby mentioned Riley keeping things bottled up, so he tried to let it go but his smile still faded. He put the apple slices on their plates and set one in front of Riley.

Riley saw Tim’s face falter and placed his hand on Tim’s. “Tim, I know it looks weird, but… let me explain.” He looked down at the plate for a moment and rubbed his temples while mumbling, “This is when they all go running, but here it goes.”

Tim tried to prepare himself for whatever Riley was going to say, unsure if this was the secretive side Abby was talking about.

“When I went from being in NCIS Cyber Crimes to being a field agent it was a bit of a rocky transition for me. As you can imagine, the things you and I are used to now didn’t exactly mix well at first with a New York/California bookworm and computer geek back then,” Riley looked at him and shrugged. “But I _knew_ that it was where I was supposed to be.”

Tim nodded, understanding that gut feeling since he also was very intent on getting himself onto Gibbs’ team.

Riley continued, “So I asked Gibbs for some help, and instead of his usual ‘learn by observation’ technique he took it a step further. He trained me like a Marine. Observation, obedience, interrogation, weapons, he trained me to be a soldier while training me as an investigator. And…” he hesitated for a moment while a slight shade of pink showed on his cheeks, then chuckled nervously, “… well of course _that_ didn’t mix well with the bookworm and computer geek either, right?”

Tim grimaced and nodded, feeling a little less worried but still listening intently.

“So I was struggling to find a good balance, until I realized that maybe they’re not supposed to mix entirely, and I’m just supposed to be Agent Mathis in one place and Riley in another.”

“You’re compartmentalizing,” Tim answered tepidly as he sat next to Riley.

Riley nodded. “My dad had this cabin up near the mountains when I was growing up, and he left it to me when he died and some money to maintain it. It’s kinda my safe haven. Not really many people go there with me or even know about it. I keep pictures of me and my family and friends there, some plants, my motorcycle sometimes, more books, so many memories… It’s so peaceful up there, and it’s just so different from here. I don’t want to stain that with the things I do as a federal agent. I bring all my baggage from work back here to this apartment, and I deal with it here so it’s done and out of the way when I’m relaxing out there. I go out there every other weekend or after a tough case is closed, whenever I can get away without wondering what fresh hell has been made overnight. This apartment… to me it’s more like an extended-stay hotel room that I live in while working. It’s not my real home.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Tim agreed. He wondered if the cabin was the secret Abby was referring to, or if maybe she thought he was secretive because he compartmentalized away most of his personal life and only gave her a little bit of it. “So you keep yourself closed off while you’re here?”

“Well at first I did, but I’ve gotten better at finding my best work-self, a good blend of being an agent without being all business,” he replied with a smile. “It’s just like what you said that day we played against each other: when you’re working, you’re Agent McGee. When you’re not working, you’re Tim. Here, I’m a Riley that has to be a sports jacket away from being Agent Mathis.” His eyes gave Tim a quick once-over and narrowed enticingly. “Though lately I’ve developed a soft spot for a certain guy that keeps coming around.”

Tim finally understood and smiled, feeling the tension inside him ease. “I think I get it. We need to have thick skin to do what we do, and sometimes it’s nice to get to feel again. I guess I’ve just never had a real physical place for it. I just write and that helps let it all out.”

Riley slid his hand over Tim’s and squeezed. “I’m almost envious of that; you can escape anytime you want. The closest I get to escape without driving out there is by delving into books just to forget the world for a few chapters. I’ve dated a couple of guys over the past couple of years, but none of them really understood that. I actually never even got around to telling them about the cabin. There was one that I brought there a while back. When it ended I was just crushed and the place kept reminding me of him, so it was even harder to deal with it. It’s why I have to be careful. I have a good feeling about you, but I just have to give us time. Is that okay?”

Tim smiled, then leaned over to kiss Riley. The kiss was as much for Riley’s comfort as it was for his own. Riley reached an arm around Tim and held him close for a moment before Tim straightened back up and returned to his breakfast.

“It’s okay,” Tim started. “I… I sometimes don’t know what to say with relationships so I usually end up saying the wrong thing. I did my own overthinking this morning and yeah, it’s normal that we still have our space and privacy. One of my last relationships I kept trying to figure out what direction we were headed in instead of just letting us be ourselves.” He didn’t want to say that it was with Abby since they’d be working with her later, but he figured he’d tell Riley more details sooner or later.

Riley squeezed his hand. “So you’re not gonna run away screaming? We’ve survived the first awkward relationship talk even though we’re not officially in a relationship yet?”

Tim nodded and gave a smiled anxiously. “Yeah, yeah I think we’re okay.” _‘That’s one major hurdle down. This might actually work.’_

Riley laughed nervously. “Good. Can, uh… can we talk about something a bit more cheerful now?”

Tim chuckled into his coffee and coughed down the sip. “Yeah. I actually forgot that my computer isn’t easily mobile, so it might actually best if we go back to my place tonight instead of having our _Risk_ rematch here.”

Riley nudged him with his elbow and smiled through a mouthful of eggs. “You’re just saying that because my apartment is bland and I’ve got nothing good in my refrigerator.”

Tim scoffed. “No, not at all. Believe me, my computer setup is as impressive as my apartment is messy. I know you’ve been there before, but you’ve never seen the living room or kitchen with the lights on. Picture a college dorm, but instead of dirty clothes laying around there are used electronics that I swear I’ll use someday.”

“I don’t think I’m around enough to make a mess of this place, to be honest,” Riley huffed. “But now that you mention it, should we really do something tonight? I mean… you know… working together? Don’t you think we’ll be a bit tempted?”

Tim’s eyes moved as if he were visibly reading through their options. “Well, I don’t know. Even if we’re working together, it’s your birthday. We just wouldn’t do… that,” he motioned his head towards the bedroom, “if you’d rather not.”

Riley chuckled. “Well, let’s play it by ear. Trust me, sifting through OMNI data all day will burn your eyes out of their sockets, so more computer screens might be a bad idea.”

“I believe you,” Tim agreed but gasped when he looked over the counter to the oven’s clock. “Uh oh, we gotta get moving. Where do we start?

Riley wiped his mouth with a napkin and mumbled through his muffin, “Well I think I should talk to Gibbs and also the Director. It’s not Morrow anymore, right?”

“Right, now it’s Director Shepard. She’s very good.” Tim watched as Riley’s demeanor rapidly shifted into its ‘Agent-mode.’

“Good. I’ll also need to get the computer setup from HQ first and fill in my boss on what’s happening before I get to NCIS. So while I’m doing that you can get the perp’s ID, which is the number tattooed on his wrist. Remember, you’ll need a UV light to see it. Second, we need a hardware list from the laptop’s manufacturer so we’ll know exactly what the system is looking for.”

“Abby already has the specs for you.”

“Good, then as long as the authentication USB is intact and you have the perp’s address where you found the laptop, give me one more kiss and we’ll be good to go.” Riley hopped off the seat and faced Tim with a hopeful smile shining briefly through his almost-work face.

Tim chortled and wrapped his arms around Riley, taking in the taste of the man’s lips and the grip of his hands. The awkwardness of their earlier conversation melted away and the promise of future kisses was traded by their tongues. Riley pulled back, eyes ablaze with lust, but with a smile and an exhilarated huff he swiftly padded towards the bedroom.

Tim grinned and began clearing their plates. He had just put them away when a thought occurred to him. “You know Ziva and Tony are gonna be all over us today trying to see if we’re an item or not, right?” he called to the bedroom.

“Yeah. How do you want to handle that?” Riley yelled back.

“I don’t know, any ideas?”

Riley poked his head through the doorway with a devilish grin. “Oh yeah. I’ve got an idea.”

NCIS

While Riley didn’t join McGee in his shower, _one more kiss_ after getting dressed turned into a few extra minutes of _one more kiss_ before they actually left to drop Riley off at his truck. When he finally had a moment alone, McGee opened his phone and called Abby.

_“Morning, McGee!”_ she answered cheerfully. _“I was just about to give my troops their Saturday morning pep-talk. You wanna listen in?”_

“Maybe another time, Abs. Actually I need you to pack up an evidence kit and meet me at the hospital. We’re paying Manning a visit.”

_“Why? Didn’t Gibbs say he was in a coma?”_

“Yes, but Riley says there’s something on his wrist that we need to find in order to crack the hard drive.”

_“Did he say that over the phone or over breakfast?”_ she asked with a smile that Tim could hear through the phone.

Tim rolled his eyes almost reflexively to her probing but was secretly hoping she’d ask. “If I tell you, will you not be annoying about it?”

_“No promises.”_

“Fine, breakfast.”

_“Ooooooh that’s promising! His place, your place, or out?”_

“That will cost you.”

_“Oh?”_

“If I tell you, you have to help us trick Tony and Ziva _and_ you can’t tell anyone what happened since we’re technically working together now.”

_“Oh that can only mean one of two things! Tell me!”_

“His place.”

Abby squealed out a laugh so loud that Tim had to move the phone away from his ear. _“Nice going, McGee! I’ve never actually seen his place. What’s it look like?”_

“You’d actually like it. It’s very modern but it has lots of black. See you at the hospital, and I’ll let you know our plan there.”

_“Sweet. See ya!”_

McGee snickered evilly to himself at the thought of what they’d do to their fellow agents as he hung up, then dialed Gibbs while he started driving.

_“Yeah?”_

McGee took the extra second to make sure he said the right name for Riley this time. “Boss, I contacted Agent Mathis and he’ll be in today to help crack the drive. He wants to meet with you and the Director, and he needs some additional evidence from Corporal Manning so I’m having Abby meet me at the hospital to get it.”

_“Alright. I want to be there to make sure you don’t burn down the building again.”_ There was no grumble in Gibbs’ voice, only his morning sarcastic tone when nothing was overtly bothering him.

McGee felt forgiven and he blushed. “Will do, Boss,” he replied softly before ending the call. He hoped that Gibbs was merely concerned about the fire and not any potential relationship with Mathis. He didn’t seem to be in as much of a mood anymore, so McGee hoped today wouldn’t be as painful as yesterday.

He parked at the hospital and waited for Abby out front. She finally arrived carrying a small evidence case which he chivalrously took for her. The front desk attendant eyed Abby curiously even after McGee showed him his badge.

“I’m Special Agent McGee, NCIS. We’re here to see a suspect we brought in Thursday night, Corporal Manning.”

The attendant typed quickly on his keyboard and kept scrolling through patient records, then picked up his phone and dialed. “Hey Terri, it’s Will at the front desk, how are you? … Mmhm, I’m checking up on room 214, you still have Thomas Manning? Uh-huh… Oh wow… Thanks.” He hung up and looked up at McGee. “I’m very sorry, but Manning passed about an hour ago. He’s been brought down to the morgue. Would you like me to get a guard to escort you?”

“Uh yeah, thanks.” McGee turned towards Abby with a grimace.

“Not good,” Abby grimly replied. “What are we looking for on him?”

He stepped away from the desk and dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s a tattoo that’s made with UV ink. Riley says it’s Manning’s OMNI ID, which we need to get into the hard drive.”

Abby gulped. “You gonna call Gibbs?”

“Not just yet, I’m going to make sure I actually have something to tell him, and make sure they’re sending the body to NCIS.”

“Ok. What’s the plan as far as Tony and Ziva?”

McGee whispered instructions to her until the guard found them and escorted them down to the morgue. They spoke to the coroner and managed to see the body before it was transported. Abby gloved her hands, adjusted her black leather wrist cuffs, and handed McGee a set of orange protective glasses while McGee rotated Manning’s wrist for the underside to face up. He felt slightly nervous because Manning’s body wasn’t even cold, but he knew this was evidence that they needed sooner or later.

“You ready, Abs?” he asked as he prepared his camera.

“Yup.” She nodded to the coroner, who turned off the lights.

She turned on her ultraviolet light and shone it on Manning’s wrist, and the symbols glowed to life. The power symbol was followed by the numbers ‘0515.’

“There it is,” McGee whispered and took a picture. “He wasn’t kidding.”

“Wow,” Abby muttered hesitantly. “I’ve only seen UV tattoos a couple of times and usually they were just silly experiments. This looks like a secret gang tattoo.”

“That’s exactly what it is, Abby. Come on, let’s get this back to NCIS and wait for Riley.”

NCIS

McGee and Abby walked out of the elevator onto the squad room floor. Ziva and Tony were already at their desks in casual clothing that Saturday work days usually allowed. Tony was halfway through a large yawn, which Ziva used to her advantage by trying to throw a Tic Tac into his mouth from her desk. When it bounced off his nose he shot her a dirty look.

“Do you mind?” he regarded angrily.

She giggled to herself. “For someone who comes in so cheerfully in the morning during the week, you’re certainly grumpy today.”

“Saturday is my time, Ziva,” he answered before shooting McGee and Abby an angry look. “If these two didn’t try to burn down the building, I could probably still be asleep.”

Abby gave Tony a deathly glare. “ _We_ didn’t try to burn down my lab, Tony. The laptop had a really effective security system which set itself on fire. If you’d like, I can demonstrate with _your_ computer.”

Tony immediately straightened up and looked attentively at her. “No! Thank you, I’m- I’m good. Where were you two?”

Abby peered at McGee, who quickly put on a sullen face as he sat as his desk, then back to Tony. “Gibbs didn’t tell you? Riley’s coming in to help with the case!”

“Really?” Tony perked up and the corners of his lips twitched up into a smile.

Ziva up at Abby. “No, Gibbs didn’t tell us anything. He already sent you to gather evidence?”

Abby smiled and nodded giddily. “Yeah, and Riley’s bringing something to help us decrypt the hard drive we couldn’t get through.”

A barely audible groan came from McGee, and the others looked at him. Tony was the first to speak.

“What’s with you, _McGoo_?”

McGee briefly glanced at Tony then quickly back to his screens. “Nothing. Just not looking forward to this.”

Abby stepped toward his desk and spoke just loudly enough for Tony and Ziva to hear but not so loud as to be conspicuous. “Come on, Tim, I’m sure he won’t still be upset about that…”

“I hope not,” McGee replied sullenly.

Tony peered over to Ziva with a grin that mischievously read, _‘The game’s afoot…’_ and then turned back to McGee. “What’s wrong, McGee? I thought you beat him before. You’re not embarrassed about needing his help now, are you? Or did something else happen?”

McGee had to stop himself from smiling with Tony playing right into their hands.

The elevator bell chimed and Mathis rounded the corner looking frustrated but lively.

Abby spun around and excitedly shrieked, “Riley!”

Mathis gave a preoccupied smile but otherwise kept his hands in his pockets as he walked towards them. His tousled black hair contrasted his neat black suit. As they rounded into the bullpen, Mathis looked warmly at everyone except McGee, where his face fell to a cold grimace.

Abby saw the look on his face and her smile genuinely fell. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Riley made a disgusted face and snorted. “Long story short, Boss said no. Where’s Gibbs? He didn’t answer my call.”

Gibbs appeared behind him mid-stride en-route to his desk. “You didn’t answer mine, either.”

Tony, Ziva and McGee scrambled to their feet instinctively expecting Gibbs to have them grab their gear, but Gibbs turned to Mathis.

“Got a call from a Special Agent King wanting us to handle it ourselves but to let them know if we find anything interesting. Tried to save you the trip and give you your birthday back.”

McGee leaned back against his desk with his arms folded, keeping his distance. He wasn’t sure what to make of the change in the plan, so he let Mathis take the lead. He couldn’t help but be surprised that Gibbs remembered Mathis’ birthday even though they hadn’t worked together in years.

“I know,” Mathis sighed and threw his hands up in frustration. “The FBI’s already collaborating with the NSA, and they don’t want to complicate things further by getting NCIS involved if all you’ve got is one of OMNI’s peons and not someone worth interrogating. It’s stupid. We need all the leads we can get.”

“So why are you here?” Gibbs asked.

Mathis gave an obviously fake shrug. “I was in the neighborhood. Plus I… kinda already packed the decryption setup into my truck before they told me not to come.”

Gibbs chuckled dryly. “FBI HQ is three miles away through the heart of DC and it’s rush hour traffic out there.”

“Exactly, in the neighborhood,” Mathis blurted out, but a disbelieving smile from Gibbs forced out the whole truth. “Okay, fine. I wanted to help, but only to save Abby from another flammable oversight from-” he pointed towards McGee “- _Amateur Hour_ over there.”

McGee picked up the cue from Mathis and heaved a disgusted scoff. “Now hold on-“

Abby raised a hand towards McGee. “Tim! Tim, it’s ok. Come on, Riley, how was he supposed to know?”

McGee caught a brief, delighted glint in Mathis’ eye and couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from twitching up. He had to look behind himself down to his desk to hide his face. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Gibbs looking between him and Mathis calculatingly.

Mathis rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Well look, any other computers that you intercept at least in the meantime should be X-rayed, and be sure to keep the OMNI name or symbol off of large screens and any of your emails, calls, or texts.”

Ziva frowned. “Why all the secrecy?”

Gibbs also looked at him quizzically.

“Just because you’re investigating OMNI doesn’t mean you want everyone to know it,” Mathis explained. “Technically I can’t tell you this, but when we got some momentum on investigation into them, we attracted some attention from within the Bureau. And that’s when things started going wrong for us. Everyone that we’ve arrested has turned up dead one way or another.”

Gibbs responded with a hint of doubt, “So you think there may be an OMNI agent inside NCIS because you know there are some in the FBI?”

Mathis nodded.

Gibbs hummed in acknowledgement. “Anything else you _can’t_ tell us before we get started?”

“Just that the FBI wants to make sure you think he’s only a drug dealer,” Mathis calmly stated. “They’ll be looking for your report and want you to think OMNI’s just some cyber cult, not a terrorist group.”

“Wait a sec,” Tony interrupted, “Who said anything about Manning being a terrorist?”

Ziva held back a smile. “The exploding laptop rings a phone, Tony.”

Tony narrowed his eyes and quietly corrected, “ _Bell_ , Ziva.”

Mathis smiled at her and Tony, and continued, “Exactly. The laptop Manning had was modified by OMNI, the same group I’ve been hunting for a few months now.”

“Who exactly is OMNI and how is our case involved?” she asked.

Mathis paced in circles for a moment to figure out how best to explain it while gently gesturing with his hand. “They started off as a few hackers and programmers that were vying for government transparency. They hosted an exchange platform to leak government documents over the internet, and now it’s not just the U.S. Government. Now they’ve stepped up their game to more malicious and targeted hacking strikes. Just this past week they tried hacking into the FBI facial-recognition database. And they use their exchange platform to act as intermediaries for off-radar weapons trades and what we think are even assassinations. They use ties to gangs and businesses around the U.S. to help run their errands. That’s where your guy comes in. He was probably running orders to or from other agents.”

“They sound more like mercenaries than terrorists,” Ziva reasoned. “What’s their goal?”

Mathis nodded. “Without access to their trading platform, it’s difficult to differentiate which attacks are for their clients and which ones they’re organizing themselves. To be honest, we’re not sure what their end goal is, but it’s apparently worth killing and dying for. I can’t say how, but every OMNI agent we’ve arrested has ended up dead while in our custody. Our theory is that they want to create overall distrust in the government, which will then start people lobbying for fewer regulations and make it easier for OMNI to exploit people through their technology. Imagine being able to sell real-time tracking of senators – or even presidents – to the highest bidder.”

Tony hummed curiously. “So they’re domestic terrorists?”

“Well, that’s where the speculation starts. All our evidence supports them being based here, but the complexity of how they run and even how they launder money makes me think they’re going global if they haven’t already, but the rest of the Bureau is downplaying it. We’ve confirmed they’re using gangs to do their physical tasks, but we’re not sure if the gangs work for OMNI or if it’s the other way around or if they’re incorporated. If you start uncovering leads that take you beyond just his drug dealings, look at your suspect’s right wrist. From everything we’ve seen, every agent has a symbol and a number tattooed into their wrist using UV-reactive ink.”

Abby gulped and fiddled nervously with her evidence kit.

Mathis continued, “Abby said she found OMNI-coded software on the laptop he recovered from your crime scene, and its self-destruct was exactly like what we’d found on their other computers. Did you find the tattoo, Abby?”

“Yeah, he had it,” she answered. “Showed up under the UV and everything just like you said. I’ve got the photos, but Manning died before we got to the hospital. The body’s en-route to Ducky now.”

Tony sighed, “No surprise the way he was OD-ing. Still, would’ve been nice to get some answers.”

McGee cleared his throat quietly but with clear annoyance for being overlooked, and took a brief glance at Tony to make sure he was still buying it. Tony had his lips pursed as he thought of all the terrible things McGee could’ve done to be buried so deep into Mathis’ bad side.

“So what’s our next step?” Gibbs asked. “We know he’s connected to something bigger, but we’re just supposed to ignore the leads we find?”

Mathis looked over at McGee briefly before turning back to Gibbs. “Well the Bureau is hoping you _won’t_ find any useful leads, and frankly it’s the one thing I agree with them on. You don’t want to get sucked into the OMNI hunt, believe me. I’ve been doing it for six months. As a favor I’ll still help get you into the guy’s hard drive to get you started, and maybe see if he has some kind of client list or contacts in his cell phone. But after that, I’ve gotta go. King will kill me enough just for coming here against orders, much less helping you.”

Gibbs gave a small but appreciative smile and nod. “McGee and Abby will work with you on the drives, Tony and Ziva take the cell records.”

Mathis raised an eyebrow at McGee, then nodded. “Let’s go to work.”

Ziva gave Tony a look of astonishment as they walked quickly and silently back to their desks, both not daring to look back at the irritable look on McGee’s face as he passed on his way out. Mathis stayed one pace behind McGee and Abby as they strode towards the elevators. Gibbs followed them out but instead turned to go up the stairs to the Director’s office.

Thinking they were out of earshot, Tony whispered quietly to Ziva, “Probie definitely screwed something up. The only time I saw Riley openly snub someone on the job was after a cop called him short.”

Ziva protested with a humored smile, “McGee would never say something like that.”

“Not on purpose, but you know how he gets when he’s nervous. He probably accidentally made a reference to elves or something. Plus Riley’s protective of Abby and he probably blames McGee for the fire,” Tony reasoned, his smile growing wider and wider. “Mark my words, this will get even uglier as it goes on and it will be _so_ much fun to watch.”

McGee, Abby and Mathis just barely made it into the elevator before their smiles broke through their stoic faces.


	10. Chapter 9

NCIS

Whatever equipment McGee was expecting Mathis to bring to the lab, he didn’t expect it all to be packed into a long trunk that looked like it belonged at a military boot camp. An inch of thick padding lined the inside of the trunk to keep the components safe. There were two separate motherboards with a seemingly infinite number of wires connecting them, two independent backup power supplies, multiple hard drives stacked together, a digital antenna, two sets of keyboards and mice, and two monitors.

McGee’s jaw dropped and he ogled every component as Mathis set them up. “I’ve never seen integration like this,” he breathed as he traced the wires. “You couldn’t just do a virtual machine?”

Mathis shook his head. “We tried, but the OMNI OS tested the processor and a regular computer couldn’t handle running both the regular machine and the virtual machine with full processor power at the same time, so the system knew it was being tricked unless we used server-grade processors and RAM. This configuration gives the virtual machine complete access to the host’s resources while giving us a glimpse inside. Computer A,” he gestured to the left monitor, “is where we input all the specifications and location data that the laptop had so that Computer B,” he gestured to the right monitor, “will think it has them when it starts. We get updated connection information from the cell carrier so we can simulate the laptop’s location data with whatever we want it to have. Usually the laptops are only allowed to be used in the agent’s home area, so we just input that as the location. Every single line of code that passes through Computer B is copied and logged by Computer A.”

McGee was glowing with technology-fueled enthusiasm. “Which gets us past the first three levels of authentication then Manning’s ID gets us through the fourth, and you can see everything the computer does at any given time. But what if the OS defends itself?”

Mathis tried to hold his professional face as much as he could, but couldn’t help but smile seeing McGee in his element. “Once we test the hardware specs, all of these wires help us regulate the voltage through every component so it can’t spike or destroy anything, especially the USB key. Even the power supply is regulated so it can’t be forced to spike or overload. We don’t even power up the laptops we find anymore. We just disassemble them to get the explosives out and slap the hard drive into this baby.”

Even Abby was impressed. “Wow. How much trial and error did you have to go through to get this setup perfected?”

“Lost about six desktops and nearly burned through the floor of one of the offices, overall about $8,000 in damage,” Mathis admitted with a grimace.

McGee shuddered at the thought of what both Gibbs and Director Shepard would do to him if he ever caused that much damage. “And you were giving me grief,” he joked to Mathis.

“Oh shut up,” Mathis groaned with a playful nudge and a smile.

McGee quickly checked the outside corridor then huddled close between Abby and Mathis. “Tony and Ziva seemed to take the bait earlier.”

Mathis’s evil grin flashed and he snickered. “I know. Let’s step it up for the next round and see how they react.”

McGee was drawn in by Mathis’ smile and his eyes filled with mischief. His hand found itself on the table touching Mathis’, and it took most of his strength to keep himself from leaning in and kissing the other man’s lips. He tried to snap himself out of it and back into his work-based focus, but Mathis was looking back at him with a similar struggle in his eyes.

“It’s um…” Mathis stammered, “It’s not going to be easy to be… you know… to be a dick to you.”

“Yeah,” McGee whispered. A sly grin took over his face and he teased, “I suppose you could remember it’s _just for work_.”

A swift jab of Mathis elbow into McGee’s side only broadened McGee’s grin, and a smile also betrayed Mathis’ embarrassed face.

“Ahem,” Abby interrupted with an overly loud clearing of her throat.

The other two looked at her having almost completely forgotten about her presence. She smirked back at them with narrowed eyes and too much enjoyment.

“You guys better be ready for Gibbs’ all-seeing eye. If he spots you making moony eyes at each other…” she stopped and made a head-slap gesture with her hands.

“Very true,” McGee admitted. “Although, you know what this means, Riley. After this, we’re technically not working together which means I can take you out for your birthday.”

“Ugh,” Mathis scoffed. “No, it does not mean that! I told you, it’s too soon for you to have to do that.”

“But I want to,” McGee cheerfully argued. “Why not?”

Abby propped her arm up on McGee’s shoulder and gave a devilish smile. “Riley puts up a fight every time someone offers to do something nice for him. Offer him something drenched in barbecue sauce – that’s his favorite – and he’ll be putty in your hands.”

“ _Abby!_ ” Mathis hissed. “It’s just not a big deal to me so I don’t want you to go out of your way for it. I mean really, Tim, today is gonna suck for you and the last thing you’ll want to do is go out or play _Risk_ after digging around through data all day.”

“He’s got help,” Abby grinned proudly and spitefully at Mathis.

McGee smiled. “Come on, I’ll take care of everything, your favorite food, drinks, and at my place so you don’t have to lift a finger.”

“Okay, fine,” Mathis conceded with a betraying smile, though not without adding, “Jerks, ganging up on me.”

McGee blushed chuckled softly to himself. He thought he’d be happy to work with Mathis on the case, but he was happier that their relationship could move forward instead. It was still a strange concept to him that he had woken up in someone else’s bed earlier that day, and he wondered what that night would hold for them later.

The elevator dinged and Gibbs swept into the lab and paused at the large display of electronics spread across Abby’s center lab table. Tony and Ziva were immediately behind him but were only interested in spotting every detail of any look McGee and Mathis exchanged. Unbeknownst to them, Abby was observing them and keeping note.

While Mathis explained the computer setup to the others, Abby nudged McGee and whispered, “They’re definitely watching you. Are we going ahead?”

“Yup,” he mumbled back. “Turn on the charm.”

Abby smiled and slung her arms over both McGee’s and Mathis’ shoulders. She gave them each kisses on the cheek and said, “Ok, boys! Show me what you’ve got.”

Mathis winked at her as he started opening programs on his computer. “Care to read me the laptop specs, m’lady? McGee, we have the drivers from other laptops, can you grab match them and install them as we go?”

Abby turned around to her workstation and started listing components while the other two worked side-by-side on the connected computers. She then gave the location data for Manning’s apartment and the ID number from Manning’s wrist.

“0515?” Mathis asked, repeating the number. “He’s probably been with OMNI for about a year now. Drive?”

McGee connected the drive to the second computer’s motherboard and power supply. “What do you think we’ll find on here?”

“Keep an open mind. With OMNI, it could be anything.”

The black OMNI symbol flashed on the screen and the system begin running its boot sequence. As the sequence commenced, hundreds of lines of code were rapidly logged by Mathis’ computer.

_AUTENTICATION KEY VALIDATED_

_LOADING MOBILE BROADBAND MODULE CONFIGURATION…_

_MOBILE BROADBAND CONNECTION SECURED, PARSING LOCATION DATA FOR AUTHENTICATION…_

_LOCATION VERIFIED_

_ENTER USER ID >_

Mathis entered the number and the computer unlocked. “Alright McGee, you want me to work my magic or do you want to poke around for a bit?”

McGee was already exploring the main screen of the OMNI system and didn’t even hear him. “It reminds me of Linux, but even less user-friendly. Look at this,” he pointed to Mathis’ screen where logs were coming in quickly. “Every move that is being made – every mouse click, every keystroke – sends a request back to the USB key to make sure it’s still in and that the location is still current. All of that plus reading the USB for the hard drive’s mapping data? No wonder it takes up so much processing power."

“And it rescans every few minutes to make sure no unauthorized programs or viruses get in,” Mathis added.

Seeing an opportunity for their ruse against his coworkers, McGee forced a smug smile onto his face. “It probably wouldn’t be that hard to disable that programming. Why haven’t you?”

Mathis raised an eyebrow, took a quick glance over at Tony and Ziva to make sure they were watching, and then calmly replied, “It would’ve been too difficult to disable the programming without triggering more safeguards.”

McGee scoffed and whispered softly, “Maybe for some people.”

“Well we can’t all set Abby’s lab on fire, McGee,” Mathis muttered spitefully.

McGee grumbled and returned to the screen. Abby watched Tony and Ziva through the reflection of her screen as they winced at the verbal crossfire. She smiled mischievously and turned to snake her arms around Mathis and McGee. With her heavy heeled boots, she was slightly taller than McGee but had definite height on Mathis.

“Now boys, play nicely,” she chided them playfully then stood back. “So Riley, what’s next?”

Mathis nudged McGee aside with a not-so-subtle sneer, “‘Scuse me, _McWizard._ ”

McGee narrowed his eyes at him and moved to the other screen whispering, “Need a step-stool?”

Gibbs rolled his eyes and sarcastically asked, “You two about done?”

Mathis held in a smile with all his might and continued, “Now we copy the map file from the USB drive and combine it with the data from the hard drive, then we can convert it to a format our other computers can recognize while keeping its integrity.”

“Wow, that’s awesome.” Abby feigned amazement and leaned over Mathis’ shoulders. “Hell, you might even be out-classing McGee right now. So what’s actually on here?”

McGee ground his teeth visibly as Abby flirted.

“Let’s see…” Mathis worked his fingers into a blur over the keyboard pulling up files. “This looks nice. Bank accounts, timestamps and instructions… looks like Manning was opening new accounts and transferring money in and out before closing them again. First step in laundering, basically. Text file looks like it was from Thursday, so I can pretty much guarantee you that if he did his job then the money’s long gone.”

Gibbs squinted at the screens. “Anything else? Any lists or names mentioned?”

Mathis shook his head. “No, not even a meeting location. Drugs were probably just a side thing so he could make some money while doing this for OMNI. This was just basic grunt work and they don’t want all of their transactions traceable to just one computer or connection. He might know a contact or two, though. Anything on the cell?”

Ziva crossed her arms and stepped forward. “No names in the contacts, and the phone was prepaid and under the name of ‘0515 LLC.’ But once every two weeks he would send a text to another number with just the word ‘clear.’ Usually happened every other Thursday between 1 and 2 AM.”

Tony reasoned, “Which means we have four days to figure where to meet his supplier, if they don’t already know he’s dead.”

McGee looked up at Mathis while thinking it through. “So he received his shipment, follows his orders, and was preparing the Ecstasy for sale when he decided to try some, but it was tainted PCP and too strong, causing him to OD. But why would you dose up on anything, especially E, right before going out to sell it?”

Mathis nodded in agreement. “You’re right, it would’ve had to have been accidental. Was it a powder he could’ve accidentally inhaled?”

McGee shook his head. “No, it was delivered as little candy tablets, but based on what we found at his apartment he melted them down and injected himself. If he knew his last batch was actually PCP that killed someone, he could’ve been testing it.”

Gibbs turned to Mathis. “You said every OMNI agent caught has ended up dead. Do you think he was murdered to prevent him from spilling information?”

Mathis frowned at the computer. “It’s possible – and honestly even more likely than an accident – even though you were only after him for a drug charge. But Gibbs, I’m really not seeing much here that would make it worth the trouble. He’s basically an errand boy.”

“An errand boy with explosives in his computer?” McGee asked. “Can’t be all there is to it.”

Tony looked from Mathis to Gibbs. “Maybe he was delivering orders to other OMNI agents. If he was under watch by us, it would make killing him a priority to protect what he knew. We should would check the people he was selling to for OMNI connections, as well as friends and neighbors.”

Gibbs eyes narrowed as they passed from the computers to Mathis to McGee. “McGee, run the accounts and double-check their transactions. DiNozzo, David, canvas Manning’s apartment building, find any possible connections or repeat visitors. Abby, keep processing evidence from Manning’s apartment.”

McGee copied the information from the mirrored drive to an external hard drive and pulled it out of the computer. He turned briefly to Mathis and quipped, “It’s nice collecting evidence without dancing on a pole, isn’t it?”

Mathis’s eyes shot daggers at him, but McGee still turned away with a confident smile and strutted off. Once he was out of the lab, he grimaced at the look on Mathis’ face and hoped that he hadn’t gone too far in their prank. Gibbs wasn’t quite sure what to make of Mathis and McGee’s behavior until he saw both Mathis and Abby covertly studying Tony and Ziva, who were both in amused shock.

Ziva spoke just under her breath enough for Tony to hear. “Well? What do you think?”

He exhaled uncomfortably and whispered back, “I think they skipped ‘dating’ and went straight to ‘divorced.’ Riley’s twisting the knife by nabbing Abby’s attention, too.”

Ziva nodded in agreement. “So you think they definitely were together?”

“Hard to say. McGee may have screwed up before they got the chance.”

Gibbs overheard Tony and rolled his eyes. He swept behind the two agents and delivered a swift head-smack to each of them. “Get.”

“On it, Boss,” Tony replied instinctively before they headed out.

Mathis looked curiously at Gibbs. “This is as far as I go. Only other thing I can recommend is checking hospital footage, but I wouldn’t hold too much hope. It’s likely they’ve already deleted it.”

Gibbs nodded and smirked. “Guess so. Ducky’s running a tox screen on the body. Any MO’s we should be seeing?”

“Just that they don’t leave loose ends and don’t like to attract attention,” Mathis warned with a serious look. “Please be careful.”

Gibbs noted the flicker of genuine concern in Mathis’ eyes, but something else lurked underneath that he hadn’t seen in a long time and hadn’t expected to see again. Nonetheless, he gratefully smiled at Mathis and nodded in thanks before exiting the lab.

When they were alone, Abby and Mathis burst out laughing and bumped fists.

“You were amazing as always, Abs.”

She curtseyed and grinned. “You two are already sniping at each other like a good couple. That will make all of this interesting for sure.” She went around to the other side of the table and started examining more evidence.

Mathis chuckled and quietly typed on the keyboard, opening a hidden partition on the OMNI drive that he had not opened for McGee. “I’m glad to see Gibbs still trusts me. At first I was worried because he seemed reluctant to bring me on.”

Abby scoffed. “Nah, that’s just Gibbs not wanting to complicate things. You might be an outsider now, but deep down you’ll always be one of us and he knows that.”

“You think he suspects something’s going on between me and Tim?” Mathis asked.

“After the display just now?” she giggled. “Definitely. Only Tony and Ziva were meant to fall for that one. Though now that you mention it, what exactly is between you and McGee? I’ve kinda only heard his side of it.”

He chuckled. “Well… I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s just starting, so there’s plenty of time to figure it out. I really like him a lot.”

Abby huffed out a single laugh. “Ha! I know you, Riley. You are already past just liking him.”

“Oh shut up,” he retorted with a slight blush. “I’m trying to take it slow this time. True, I may have let the whole ‘actually sleeping together’ thing start sooner than I thought, but if you count the first time we met as a date, I at least waited until the third date to have sex!”

Abby couldn’t stop her giggling and rolled her eyes. “You can justify anything, can’t you? Well he seems happy to me. Have you heard him awkwardly talk about what direction he wants the relationship to go?”

“Yes, this morning. But how did you know it would be awk-…” Mathis stared curiously into space for a second before his eyes widened and jaw dropped. He quickly minimized the computer’s screen and looked up at her with scandalous intrigue and a finger pointed at her. “YOU?”

Abby nodded affirmatively as her grin stretched wider, then she went back to looking at the evidence log. “So he didn’t tell you about us yet?”

“Heh, no he didn’t,” he replied with a smile. He typed commands quickly but quietly on the computer keyboard while Abby was looking away. Images of people and designations decrypted and flashed on the screen as they began copying to his own hard drive. “But he told me he had a bad tattoo that he lasered off. Do I have you to thank for that advice?”

Abby pursed her lips. “And unfortunately to blame for him getting it in the first place. He got it trying to impress me. It was nice while it lasted, and I still love him I just don’t think we were meant to be like that, you know?”

He typed one last command and began shutting down the computers. He then hummed reminiscently, his smile fading. “Yeah, yeah I do.”

Abby’s smile also faded slightly when she looked up, and seeing Mathis’ discomfort she rounded the table engulfed him in one of her remedial hugs.

He turned around to squeeze her too. “Abby,” he whispered, “Until everything with OMNI is over I want you to X-ray every computer you come across. If you find one of those laptops, I know you’ll go to Gibbs first but you need to tell me too, even if we’re not on the case together. You guys stumbled across a paper-pusher today, but it could’ve been much worse and you could’ve been killed when you powered on that laptop.”

Abby nodded. “Is that why you just decrypted more data without telling Gibbs or McGee?”

Mathis blinked in surprise and gazed blankly back at her. “Pardon?”

Abby raised an eyebrow but was not amused. She released him and lifted her arms outward like spreading wings for effect. “Come on, Riley. Here, I am Queen. Do you really think there isn’t an inch of this lab I can’t see from any angle?”

Mathis chuckled dryly. “Well damn.”

Abby crossed the lab and closed the door leading to the elevator, then went to her workstation and shut off the lab’s cameras. “What else did you find?”

Mathis folded his arms and faced her. “You know I can’t tell you that, otherwise I would’ve.”

“Come on Riley. It’s _me_ ,” she pleaded.

“Yes it’s you, which is exactly why I can’t tell you. That was part of the deal, remember?”

Abby pouted and stomped her foot. “Ugh, come on! I hate being out of the loop almost as much as I hate keeping a secret.”

“You’ve kept yours pretty well, haven’t you?” he retorted with a bump of his eyebrow.

Abby sighed and looked down, her eyes shut with regret. “Yeah, I guess.”

He nodded and started putting away computer components. “Hey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to get onto the OMNI base platform in the first place. Did you recognize the operating system when you powered on the computer?”

“Sorta. They’ve refined it since I left but the base of the OS appears to be the same. I didn’t expect to see it in a laptop.” She popped open the snaps of her right wrist cuff and brushed her fingers over the pale skin below her hand.

Mathis looked over and asked, “When was the last time you looked at it?”

“I don’t even remember. I keep a spare set of sweatbands in my desk just in case one day I don’t wear any cuffs and suddenly have to run a UV light. I really want it removed, Riley. I just wish it was regular ink so I wouldn’t need surgery to get it out. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I know,” he replied sympathetically. “When this is all over I’ll even go with you, but until then it’s yours. You’re one of the OMNI founders, Abby. If anything, that tattoo will help clear you of involvement in OMNI’s latest stunts. You wore cuffs today at the hospital, right?”

“Of course, and I wear something on my wrists whenever I go out to a bar or club just in case.” Abby looked down and quietly asked, “You promise you won’t say anything to Gibbs or McGee? Even if I am one of the Originals, one of the defectors, I don’t want them looking at me like… like a suspect.”

He shook his head. “It’ll be your secret to tell, just like this hard drive is my secret. We all do what we have to do.” He turned back to the table and continued disconnecting the computer components.

Abby slowly walked up beside him and helped pack the pieces into the trunk. Still hushed she narrowed her eyes and added, “What’s really going on? The Riley Mathis I knew would never lie to Gibbs about anything, even about an FBI case, especially after what I _know_ you two were to each other. I’ve been keeping your secret, too.” She waited expectantly for him to either confirm or deny her implication.

He paused for a moment as memories surfed through his head, then frowned. “That’s because the Riley Mathis you knew never met an opponent he wasn’t sure he could beat. I’m not on Gibbs’ team anymore, and there are other rules I’ve had to adapt to fight OMNI. Things I’ve had to do. Things he wouldn’t like. He can’t help me and I don’t want him involved.”

She stared at him with surprised eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t trust Gibbs anymore.”

“Come on, you know I trust Gibbs even if I am an ‘outsider' now. I just don’t want any of you to have targets on your heads because of this. Is that so wrong? And I don’t want Tim to worry, either. He seems like a worrier.” He looked up at her and shrugged it off.

Abby pursed her lips and looked pensive. “Will you tell him the truth?”

“Someday, if we make it that far,’ he nodded.

“And Gibbs?”

Riley sighed, appearing uncomfortable. “He’s… not my priority anymore, but yes. Eventually. If NCIS stays focused on a dead marine and doesn’t get too deep into OMNI’s real inner workings, it’ll all be tied off as a loose end and OMNI won’t come after any of you. That’s why I’m not giving Gibbs this.” He picked up the spare hard drive and weighed it in his hand.

Abby gave a resigned and dismayed sigh. She reached into the evidence crate and withdrew a bag with a small flashlight. Without taking it out of the bag, she shone the UV light on her right wrist which she held close to her body to shield it from the overhead fluorescent light. The OMNI symbol glowed next to the number ‘0011.’ Mathis then reached over and covered it gently with his hand.

She looked up at him with tears trembling in her eyes. “All this… It was so different back then. Just a few of us trying to help people.”

“I know,” he whispered comfortingly.

NCIS

Gibbs strolled down to the morgue with a refreshed cup of coffee in his hand. His gut still told him that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He tried chalking it up to seeing Mathis again and having memories churned up, but that explanation didn’t sit well. The worried look Mathis gave him in the lab was uncharacteristic as well. But rather than something just being unusual, he felt he was missing something which was also common in the middle of a case. He hoped that seeing Ducky would at least make things more certain.

Ducky was perched over the table performing the autopsy with Palmer. Manning’s body was dotted with bruises in contrast to its deathly pallor, though most of his chest was split open via Ducky’s Y-incision.

Ducky didn’t even have to look up to know who it was. “Ah, Jethro. Unlike everyone else who seems to be dragging today,” he paused to glare at Palmer, “you’re right on time.”

“I said I’m sorry, doctor!” Palmer pleaded behind his mask as he helped lift the liver from Manning’s body into the scale. “I had a… long night last night.”

Gibbs took a sip of coffee then asked his usual, “What do you got, Duck?”

“One very useful organ,” he replied while extracting the liver from the body. “I can already tell from this liver that our corporal wasn’t usually one to do things in excess. A decent enough balance of healthy and fatty tissue, some alcohol usage but not even close to the point of cirrhosis, very slight traces of use of his drug of choice, Ecstasy, but nothing to indicate previous extreme drug use. There’s damage from his fatal overdose of PCP, of course, but not much else. His other organs have suffered recent damage as well, but again, this is a first for our boy.”

Gibbs looked down at the body. “First and last. Were you able to find out just how much he tried to ingest? We need to know if this was an accident.”

“Of course,” Ducky murmered as he set down the liver and made notations. “Well given the fact that the drugs arrived as candy, I first searched his stomach contents but found no traces of them. So I looked and I did find a needle puncture, but it was surprisingly on his left arm, not his right.”

Gibbs lifted an eyebrow and asked, “Why is that surprising?”

Ducky picked up Manning’s right arm and lifted it into the light. “You see the tan line on his right wrist? Most left-handed individuals wear their watch on their right hand, so naturally I assumed he would’ve injected himself with his left hand into his right arm. But the callouses on his hands and his personnel file indicate that he was dominantly right-handed, not left, which led me to his left arm to find the injection mark.”

“So he was trying to make himself look left-handed,” Gibbs deduced. “Was it just to cover for injection marks on his arm?”

“It could be, if it weren’t the only one. Injection means he had very careful control over how much he was putting in his veins. The amount he took was no accident, and it was the only time he injected himself. I think it was more a fashion choice or to cover the-”

They were interrupted by a loud mechanical whirring at the other end of the lab.

Ducky looked around for Palmer. “Oh, Mister Palmer could you check the fax for the lab results? I believe they’re coming in now.”

Palmer looked over at the desk and hurried over. “Sure thing.”

“Now look here, Jethro,” Ducky continued and turned over Manning’s arm. “I spotted the tattoo made with UV ink on the inside Manning’s wrist, which conveniently fits inside his tan line. He was trying to conceal his tattoo from… OMNI is it?”

“Yep,” Gibbs answered. “He wanted to hide his involvement with OMNI and all it took was a switch of where he wore his watch, which no one would notice or care enough to ask about.”

“Should I be looking for those tattoos on any new bodies that join us here?” Ducky asked off-handedly while making more autopsy notes.

Gibbs smiled. “Well hopefully we’ll get a live one first and do the hard work for you, Duck.”

Ducky’s smile was hidden by his mask, but his eyes showed it for him. He paused to look at the results Palmer brought over to him. “No, no, the chart from the fax!” he chided.

“This _is_ from the fax,” Palmer argued. “That’s all that was there.”

Ducky’s eyes narrowed as he slipped off his gloves. He took the chart from Palmer and walked over to the desk where a folder with a separate set of results was waiting. He took the two side by side and scrutinized them carefully.

“What’s wrong?” Gibbs called as he approached.

“These results,” he looked gravely up at Gibbs. “I requested that Manning’s charts from when he was admitted to the hospital be delivered with his body. The amount of PCP in his bloodstream is higher now than it was when he was admitted there.”

Palmer glanced at the body. “What? How is that possible?”

“He was dosed again after he was in a coma,” Gibbs deduced.

“But why?” Ducky asked. “He was already comatose, and the levels from his overdose would almost certainly have killed him anyway.”

Gibbs also looked back at the body. “Someone wasn’t willing to chance it, and they murdered him,” he answered grimly.

NCIS

McGee could already feel a migraine coming from trying to sift through the bank accounts and transfers that Manning had done. Riley was correct when he said the money had already been transferred out from Manning’s list of accounts, but the trail of that money was dizzying to follow as it linked up with funds transferred from other accounts only to be split up into smaller and smaller pieces that were harder to follow. Most money laundering schemes McGee had uncovered usually had the money flowing back to a particular target, but with the number of ways the money was transferred, McGee wondered if he’d ever find it. He logged his progress with each step, but he couldn’t help the feeling that he was missing something.

His thoughts wandered to Riley and the night they spent together. As he went through the sequence of events, he came to realize that for only knowing Riley for three weeks he had been more intimate with him than he had been with pretty much anyone at that stage. Riley’s glistening eyes flashed in McGee’s mind and pulled him forward, which leaned him forward into his desk and startled him. He quickly looked up and around to make sure no one noticed, and an image of Gibbs’ eyes flashed icily from his empty desk.

_“You’re thinking about someone else,”_ a low voice dripping with jealousy growled in Tim’s ear.

“No. It’s nothing,” McGee whispered quietly to himself.

_“That was not nothing. You want him and you only think he wants you.”_

McGee swallowed nervously. He thought about Riley being on a motorcycle and travelling alone to that secret cabin. He wondered if he’d ever be there with Riley or if his pursuit of OMNI would keep them apart. But then he remembered the way Riley smiled and chewed his lip whenever he looked up at McGee. The way Riley rested against him and held his hand helped make up McGee’s mind. McGee would never get used to standing up to Gibbs, but he could certainly stand up to his own imagination.

“He _does_ want me,” McGee argued silently, mouthing at the image at Gibbs’ desk. “And he’s actually willing to show it.”

The imagined face gave Gibbs’ patented _“We’ll see”_ stare before disappearing.

McGee shook his head and looked at the clock. Now that it was finally 1:00 PM he could justify another cup of coffee, but as he stood to leave the real Gibbs came sweeping into the Bullpen and nearly knocked him over.

“Oh, Boss!” McGee exclaimed as he had to nearly jump into his desk to get out of the way.

Gibbs’ eyes were not the cold ones in McGee’s imagination but the on-task ones that even made McGee focus if he looked into them. McGee entirely forgot his concerns about Riley and the world shrunk to the size of the bullpen with only Gibbs and McGee at its center.

“Where are you going?” Gibbs asked quickly.

“Just to get some coffee, why?”

“Not anymore,” Gibbs replied as he went to his desk. “Grab your gear. We’re going to the hospital to check their surveillance.”

Without hesitation McGee dropped his empty coffee cup into the trash, grabbed his gear, and marched behind Gibbs to the elevator. After the elevator closed, Gibbs turned to face him, standing only few centimeters away.

“What was all that between you and Mathis about down in Abby’s lab?”

McGee froze and his lips tightened. _‘Shit!’_ he thought to himself. He knew Gibbs would be able to tell if he was lying, and he would never want to lie to Gibbs in the first place. He hesitated and stammered before regaining his composure, “It- um… well… Tony… Tony and Ziva were bugging me all last week after meeting with him outside work and… well we were just messing with them.”

“That’s all there is?”

McGee could’ve safely ‘Yes’ and not be lying about it since they had not made their relationship official, but that wouldn’t have been fair to Riley or Gibbs. The focus in Gibbs’ eyes was intimidating, but beyond that McGee thought there was a man who still wanted him and McGee couldn’t bear to disappoint Gibbs. He wasn’t ready to make that choice in-person. He didn’t know what to do, and his face flushed in silence. Gibbs tilted his head slightly to the side, giving an indication of doubt as he studied McGee’s face. Gibbs’ stare quickened McGee’s pulse and hitched his breath. McGee started to feel the heat from Gibbs’ body in the enclosed space of the elevator.

Gibbs didn’t take his eyes from McGee’s, but slowly raised his hand and rested it firmly on McGee’s shoulder. With a soft but authoritative tone he whispered, “Just make sure you remember where you belong.”

McGee’s jaw quivered and his knees nearly buckled. This wasn’t another shower fantasy, this was the real Gibbs right in front of him with sharp eyes and warm, coffee-scented breath and hand on his shoulder both sending lightning bolts through his body. His heart was pounding and his mouth hung slightly open. Gibbs’ face was only inches away and it seemed like it would have only taken a small movement for their mouths to connect, but the elevator chime sounded loudly and snapped them back to reality. Gibbs breezed quickly through the door into the parking garage. McGee stumbled back against the elevator wall and tried to steady himself. He felt dizzy with confusion at what just happened and what it meant, but his work senses moved him autonomously forward to follow Gibbs.

They were both silent as Gibbs drove. McGee’s mind raced in a panic as he overanalyzed every tone in Gibbs’ last words to him. _‘Just make sure you remember where you belong,’_ he repeated silently to himself. _‘Gibbs doesn’t want me getting too involved with Riley? Why? Does he think I’ll jump ship and go to FBI Cyber Crimes like Riley did? Gibbs knows I’d never leave. But then… what just happened? Was that his way of telling me he wants me and he’s jealous? That in the end I belong with him?’_

The other side of his brain chided him. _‘You’re an idiot. You’ve been in love with Gibbs for so long that one look and a touch from him made you forget all about Riley and want him again. You just spent the night with someone who openly admitted he wants to be with you. If Gibbs wanted you, he would’ve actually done something by now. He is just your boss. This is work. Pull yourself together before you ruin the only thing you’ve got going on.”_

Guilt pulled down on McGee’s stomach. _‘Shit. I_ am _an idiot. I’m sorry, Riley. We are at work, and that’s all that Gibbs cares about on the job. Gibbs thinks Riley will tempt me with this case and make me want to work in Cyber Crimes too. I really like Riley, and Abby said that Riley was a lot like me when he was at NCIS. We really seem to work together but I love NCIS and I’d never leave. Maybe Gibbs just wants to keep the team together. It’s not just about me, it’s about the team. It has nothing to do with feelings for me. Right? I just have to spend more time with Riley outside of work and that’ll get Gibbs out of my head. It’ll work. Just got to get through this case.’_

McGee felt the guilt lift its weight away as he resolved the situation in his mind. For once, he was grateful for the silence and a long enough drive to work through his thoughts and feelings. He looked over at Gibbs, whose eyes were purely on the road, and despite the ropes of attraction trying to pull him towards his superior McGee straightened himself up in his seat and took a resolute breath. He steeled his mind to focus on the task at hand, which he was reminded of when they reached the hospital.

The front desk attendant was the same one from McGee’s first visit earlier that day, though he appeared somewhat more worn from the day. Without question he diverted them to the Security office where a young security officer was waiting for them.

“Hi, I’m Stanley Banks,” he politely offered with a slight West Virginia drawl and an elation that pointed to this moment as the most interesting part of his day. “How can I help?”

“We need to see the security footage from this morning, around 7:30,” McGee replied.

“Sure thing, right this way.”

Banks directed them to a set of monitors and stood by while McGee sat down at the controls. Having done the same process for many security systems, McGee quickly mapped out the controls and rewound his way back through the course of the day. Gibbs stood further behind him than usual, but McGee’s mind shielded him from distraction with the thought that it had nothing to do with their earlier conversation.

McGee looked at his case notes and studied the building layout while muttering to himself, “Second floor, elevators, east wing, hallway, nurse’s station, got it. Room 214,” he pointed as he brought up the different camera angles on the monitors. “Alright, I have us a 7 AM. What are we looking for?”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he studied the angles. “Ducky says someone gave Manning another overdose of PCP after he was admitted to the hospital. We need to find out who.”

McGee nodded. “Another overdose wouldn’t have taken long to kill him, only a few minutes after delivery. Time of death was 7:30, so let’s get to 7:15 and take it from there.”

McGee slowly turned the control knob to the right and the video feed accelerated. They watched the video through until the alarm went off for Room 214 and the nurses scrambled. There was very little activity during the video times with no one walking down the adjacent hallway or approaching the room.

Gibbs sighed. “Play it again.”

McGee rewound the video and started playing it again, this time looking at the different camera angles instead of focusing on the room. Gibbs stood up straight and took a step back from the monitors as if to also get a broader view of the situation. With a few minutes to spare, something clicked in McGee’s head telling him to stop, so he quickly paused the feed and without waiting for an order from Gibbs he started again at 7:15. He was only half-aware of what he was looking for until he found it again.

“Boss, I got it!” he called excitedly.

Gibbs leaned in closer to McGee and the monitors. “What is it?”

“Look here,” he pointed to an analog clock over the nurse’s station, “and here,” he pointed to another monitor at a clock by the elevators. “Watch.”

He played it again over the course of three minutes. The clock at the nurse’s station never changed times until the three minutes was over, but the clock by the elevator ticked once each minute.

“The video here has been looped, but then look again,” McGee pointed out, the corners of his mouth twitching upward in victory in his problem-solving element.

He resumed the video and showed the clock over the nurse’s station ticking normally with each minute but the elevator clock was frozen for another two minutes until it suddenly appeared on time.

“They only looped the video feed in certain areas at a time to cover their tracks,” McGee explained.

Gibbs nodded. “So someone was definitely there, and they had help. Could this have been accessed remotely?” he asked Banks.

Banks’ jaw hung slightly open with confusion. “No sir, it’s a closed-circuit system. I don’t even think the DVR has the ability...” he paused as he started digging through the wires behind the DVR boxes. He stopped and his eyes widened in horror. “Shit!” he hissed.

“Whatever it is, get back and don’t touch it!” Gibbs ordered and pulled him back.

McGee had already dug into his bag for a pair of gloves and handed them to Gibbs, who put them on and dug past the wires until he found a small, rectangular device with an antenna resting on the floor. The device had an Ethernet cable running to the back of the DVR box. Gibbs traced another cable running from the device to a nearby power strip, and quickly disconnected it. The lights on the device went out, and after a tense moment Gibbs hoisted it up by the Ethernet cable and set it on the desk.

McGee studied it for a moment before looking up. “It’s a Wi-Fi adapter, boss.”

“That can’t be,” Banks objected. “The system is closed-circuit, we keep the DVR airtight so no one can tamper with the footage.”

Gibbs turned to Banks. “Looks like someone did. Get me a list of everyone who had access to this room and Room 214, and all of their schedules. Now.”

Banks scurried over to another desk and frantically searched through the records, and Gibbs looked back at the device.

“McGee, what’s the range on one of these?”

McGee frowned and looked back at the device. “Not far, but this means we’re looking for two people that would’ve been on-site. One to kill Manning, and the other to mask his tracks. But…” He paused as a grim thought crossed his mind.

“What, McGee?”

McGee took a deep breath. “If the security system was not just connected to the hospital’s Wi-Fi but also to the internet, OMNI could’ve still been watching the video feeds all this time, which means…”

“Which means,” Gibbs completed, “OMNI now knows who we are and that we’re onto them.”


	11. Chapter 10

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall walked smoothly across the lit parking lot of the Dallas FBI Field Office. The tall lamps casted orange light across her path as she weaved through the field of cars. She listened for any sign of footsteps other than her own, but was satisfied hearing only the soft click of her flats on the asphalt. She rarely worried about being assaulted, though after recent events she wanted to be sure she wasn’t being followed by any agents. She finally found her Mercedes and checked the clock.

“Hmm… twenty minutes…” she murmured to herself.

She only needed five minutes to get to her destination, but she decided for safety that she’d add on an extra ten minutes of roundabout driving to be safe. She drove attentively away from the building and towards the highway as she normally would to go home, though she took an earlier exit than usual and watched to see which cars followed her. She took a left and cut through a dense residential area of northwest Dallas, then found herself on more industrial back roads. Satisfied that no cars had followed her, she navigated herself past a few shipping warehouses to an office building that appeared to be mostly closed down for the night.

The building was dated despite its attempts to be modernized with large, smooth windows stretching between small layers of brick. Most of the offices were currently unlit, though a few still had a couple of lights on just for general security. The front entrance and lobby was illuminated, and a guard at the front desk sat back in his chair with a magazine over his propped up legs. Hall swiped a blank badge over the sensor next to the front doors and heard the metallic ‘thunk’ of the locks releasing. As she entered she passed large signs indicating the floors and offices of the various companies that filled the building. She smiled at the guard and fluffed her hair as she always did in passing.

“Just checking on things again, ma’am?” he asked with a kind smile.

“You know it, honey,” she replied with extra charm thrown into her southern drawl.

As she ascended stairs to the second floor, her smile faded into tension. She kept running over the week’s events in her mind while briskly entering a small office crammed between two larger ones. The office was two tiny rooms of basic gray carpeting and white walls, little more than a glorified walk-in storage closet. The first room served merely as a front room with not even a piece of furniture or decoration to it. The key feature was the fingerprint and optical sensor next to the door to the second room, both of which Hall used to unlock the door. Per her criteria of choosing a private office, the second room was set far into the interior of the building and didn’t even have a window. The walls were checkered with black soundproofing tiles and the room was dimly lit by small blue and green lights from a single server rack placed in the center of the room. By the far wall sat a plain wooden desk and padded office chair that faced towards the server rack.

Hall dropped her purse and coat on the desk, then opened the server rack to retrieve a laptop sitting on top of one of the units. She pulled out a length of Ethernet cable to run from the rack to the desk while she walked back, then after sitting down she reached into her purse to retrieve a silver USB drive from a hidden pouch. After connecting the drive and starting the laptop, she had to close her eyes for a moment before they adjusted to the light shining from the OMNI loading screen. She logged into the computer using her ID number, then opened a program which connected her to a virtual conference room. There were no faces visible, only generic icons representing each person present placed around a conference table. There were six participants with various city names of Atlanta, Dallas, DC, New York, Frankfurt, and Zurich, and one name labeled _“Zero”_ under the ‘Presenter’ section at the top of the chat. The participants were each considered ‘Regional Directors’ in the OMNI chain of command, and Zero stood at the head of the conference table.

There was no sound until Zero’s icon lit up and a generic male computer voice rang out, _“Status report.”_

The icon for Atlanta was the first to highlight before a computer-scrambled man’s voice replied, _“Operations normal, five-percent increase in trafficking sales and four operatives recruited into local armed gangs.”_

Hall was nervous to speak, knowing her news would be troublesome and that no amount of voice-changing would prevent Zero from knowing exactly who she was. “Operations abnormal. Data breach of FBI averted. Three operatives down, minor data retrieved by FBI. Two operatives recruited.” The response was clear-cut with no personal input, colloquialisms or inflections, as Hall knew it was supposed to be.

DC continued after her in another woman’s garbled voice, _“Operations abnormal. Five operatives down and significant OMNI data retrieved by FBI and NCIS. NSA collaborating with FBI investigation, NCIS contained. Data center activity normal, auction platform updated.”_

Hall breathed a sigh of relief that at least someone’s update was somewhat worse than hers.

The next update came from Frankfurt with traces of a predictable Germanic accent through the scrambler. _“Operations normal. Successful deal with La Grenouille resulting in four weapons shipments over the next two months. Two black ops assets recruited and held in retainer. One Originals defector located and terminated in London.”_

Hall ground her teeth when Frankfurt mentioned the Originals. The Originals were a group of OMNI founders and early members that split off in disagreement with OMNI’s direction. Their base knowledge of OMNI’s platform and operations posed a severe threat, and some current OMNI members were sympathetic to the Originals, so finding and killing one commanded respect and security to the Regional Director. The more respect Zero had for a Director, the more control over OMNI as a whole the Director potentially had.

_“Operations normal,”_ New York continued. _“Phase One of virus testing successful. Operatives have been recruited within several software companies for implementation, which is on schedule. Shipping activity normal, three black ops assets received in Newark and equipped for duty.”_

Zurich came last. _“Operations normal. Funds laundered and transferred into required accounts, two operatives recruited inside INTERPOL.”_

When the updates were finished, Hall steeled herself to answer the questions she knew would come.

Zero’s voice was completely electronic with seemingly no human element present, which only made it seem colder and harder to predict. _“Dallas, detail data breach failure and operative loss.”_

She took a deep breath and thought out her rehearsed explanation. In this stage she would still try to contain her accent, but she had more liberty with how she worded her response. “Operatives lost were mid-level hackers, all of them involved on the FBI breach attempt. The FBI has increased their resources set towards tracking OMNI and our activities.”

Zero quickly replied, _“DC, report federal agency status, and detail operative loss.”_

DC took a moment before answering, which Hall attributed to nerves on the DC Regional Director’s part. _“Case is still open with NCIS, however our sources inside the FBI will keep them from getting further than the low-level trafficker they discovered. NSA is checking for our international connections. The other killed operatives were low-level informants, two hardware distributors, one an ops asset, and the other a new gang recruit. Our operatives within the FBI have tried to get the OMNI team reassigned after the latest case-related deaths, but lately they’ve been turning up too much evidence for FBI Administration to halt the investigation without arousing suspicion. The team has also developed a way to get into our operatives’ laptops, and they’ve assisted NCIS with gathering data from one.”_

New York asked, _“Can you recruit the NCIS team?”_

_“We’ve already placed certain members on the FBI team,”_ DC replied, _“but current reports show that NCIS team is unfit for recruitment. Our attempts have turned into deep-cover assignments for them, and have had to be terminated.”_

Hall added, “Coercion may elicit more results from them and we can control the FBI’s escalation response.”

_“We have to think of the big picture,”_ Frankfurt buzzed with an air of confidence. _“Focusing our efforts on one small team won’t keep us secure before the test and global auction. We need the FBI, NSA and NCIS to stop investigating us altogether. Give them an old building that we’ve emptied so they’ll think we’ve gone.”_

“These agencies won’t stop searching for us just because we gave them an empty bar,” Hall argued. “What we need is for them to reduce our threat assessment so they devote fewer resources and their investigations will eventually stall on their own. That won’t happen unless they have a reason to back down.”

Zurich lit up. _“The FBI, NSA, DOD and CIA have all paid their entry fees for the auction. It’s doubtful that any of them will make a major move before they can get their hands on the program. Our concern now is NCIS making a move, or after the auction when those who lost want the program anyway.”_

_“The data centers are not at risk,”_ DC reassured them. _“The only leads they have are on a few local agents.”_

“Those are the only leads for _now_ ,” Hall retorted. “But how many more leads could they get in the next couple of months? They need to be either relaxed with success or so busy they can’t do any more searching.”

There was silence for a moment until DC spoke, _“I have a warehouse with some spare supplies and staff. With a few more assets and some false data it could be convincing as our primary hub.”_

They were all muted by Zero who then commanded, _“Dallas, compile a revised psychological profile for the FBI and NCIS team members and send to New York immediately. New York, dispatch assets to DC to begin reconnaissance on all non-OMNI operatives on the teams investigating us. DC, prepare distribution warehouse with non-essential personnel and sufficient assets to convince the federal agents that they have discovered our primary cell. Zurich, allocate expendable funds and assets to DC to be seized. Frankfurt, continue European expansion operations. Atlanta, assist Regional Directors as needed. The pressure on the FBI and NCIS teams will force them to raid the warehouse. Dallas and DC, ensure FBI and NCIS Administration reduces threat level after raid. The NSA will comply. Commence the warehouse operation in one week. Failure will result in termination.”_

The conference ended abruptly as all icons were replaced with a single OMNI power symbol in the center of the screen. Hall breathed a shaky sigh as she stared at the symbol. Zero’s death threats were few but serious. Delivering orders through the OMNI chain inside the FBI always carried a risk of exposure to those involved, and after three deaths in a single week under her watch, Hall was already under enough scrutiny. She knew she may need help, and knew someone else who could use her help in return. Hall looked at the program’s list of contacts and hovered over DC.

_‘It’s now or never,’_ she thought to herself before clicking the icon.

The program took a moment to secure a safe channel through multiple proxies before connecting the call, and after a few rings the call was answered.

_“What?"_ DC’s garbled voice answered briefly.

Through the vocal scrambler, Hall thought she heard the unmistakable sound of an upset woman, which is exactly what Hall needed. She took a breath before beginning and spoke deliberately to keep her accent hidden.

“Look, I know we don’t know each other, but we’re both over the same barrel here.”

_“I’m fine, Dallas. I don’t need you trying to move in on my job.”_

She couldn’t help but crack a smile. “No, but we all need to make sure this whole thing goes smoothly so none of us lose our heads, right?”

DC took a moment before finally replying, _“Yes, ok. What do you want?”_

Hall considered her task and how best to execute it. “I need to get agent information to New York tonight, but it would be better if I could give them a more specific target or a pressure point. Can you get me more information on the teams investigating us? I only know the FBI side and I don’t have any NCIS contacts.”

_“Yes, we just got some information about the NCIS team members investigating our ops asset. We don’t have a recruit within NCIS but our FBI contacts can get into their systems undetected. I’ll send all of it to you if you can help me.”_

“What do you need?”

_“Time. I don’t have time to monitor all three agencies while trying to prep the warehouse, so you’ll need to keep tabs on the teams and keep them stalled.”_

Hall smiled as she already knew two OMNI agents on the FBI and NSA teams. “I think I can handle that. Send me what you have and I’ll run with it.”

_“Good. And one more thing – keep New York’s hit men busy. I have my own people that I trust already on the recon job.”_

DC ended the call, and a message popped up on the screen that she was trying to send a compressed file through the program. Hall accepted and waited for it to download. She wouldn’t ordinarily bring OMNI data directly to the FBI building, but she needed access to the facial recognition database without triggering remote access protocols. Once it finished downloading she quickly scanned the file to make sure DC wasn’t trying to trap her with a virus, but after seeing it was clean she copied it to a blank USB drive and departed for the FBI Field Office.

Hall wondered about her future as she sealed the office behind her. She most often weighed the pros and cons of being involved in OMNI when exiting that office after a conference call. Every operative knew the risks, and they also were familiar enough with OMNI’s methods of punishment. OMNI agents inside the government were given the choice of having their tattoos hidden by long hair or by the collars of their clothes, as opposed to being on their wrists where they could be more easily discovered. Hall had chosen to keep her long hair and not deal with the itching of a healing tattoo rubbing against her clothes.

Her hand absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck over her invisible tattoo as she drove. Her successful OMNI track record was visibly marked by her Mercedes and upscale townhouse she “inherited,” in addition to several million dollars in various holdings under deeply buried identities. But she wouldn’t let success cloud the reality of her situation. If she were exposed, her priority was to minimize OMNI exposure. For some agents, that meant killing themselves to keep their fellow agents safe. Those that didn’t, she took care of herself. She rarely, if ever, felt sorry for the ones who had to die. She reasoned that if they were stupid enough to get caught, she wouldn’t want them in her operation anyway. There were rare cases where an exposed agent was still useful enough to be kept alive _if_ they got away cleanly from the authorities, but many others would have no choice but to eat their guns. Hall liked to believe that being a trained FBI Agent alone would prove her resourcefulness if her OMNI involvement was ever uncovered.

It wasn’t just the money that had recruited her, which she also had to remind herself when she drove away from these calls. It was the chance to shape the world. In a matter of a year, she had organized the underbelly of metropolitan Texas from a disorderly smattering of feuding gangs into a smooth-functioning business equipped with a private army at her disposal. With the gangs in order, developers were given incentive to build businesses which brought income, jobs, and visible change to the cities. This was _her_ Texas, whether the residents knew it or not. From behind the anonymity of a computer screen she had done what most local politicians had promised and failed to do. OMNI showed her what could be done with a single computer and the right data, and their platform was uniting the entire world’s ecosystem of illegal trade to make an underground economy for the planet. It wasn’t necessarily a cause Hall would die for, but it was her job to persuade others to be willing. It wasn’t hard to sell organizing crime in the interests of national security. Even hardcore patriots fell for that one. But from where she stood in OMNI now, she felt confident that she could be held in the lowest prison cell of the FBI building and escape without even breaking into a jog.

NCIS

Agent Hall strode through the mostly-empty building with determination generally unseen so close to midnight and didn’t even remove her coat when she sat at her desk. She took the usual precautions to cover her digital footsteps before inserting her USB drive and opening the file. Several images and a couple of video files were listed inside along with a few personnel files. She started with the personnel files which listed the OMNI operatives on the investigative team, which she already knew. She smiled at the serious but familiar face of one man with a moustache and bald head. The other files showed newer recruits, as well as FBI and NSA agents not yet recruited. She studied the file on Special Agent Mathis, whom she had met during the failed hacking attempt, and nodded in recognition as she read through his information. She also noted the open investigation involving Navy Corporal Manning, who also had a file on the drive as an OMNI asset.

After a few minutes of studying, she put the files aside and went to the images and videos. The still images followed a man in nurse’s scrubs through hospital hallways. The timestamps showing the images came from earlier that same day were printed in the corner of each image as he went into Room 214 and left shortly after, then down the halls to the elevators and eventually out a side exit.

There were 4 video files on the drive, each only a few minutes long and with no audio. The first video showed a tall young agent walking up to the front desk of the same hospital along with a slim woman in gothic clothing. She studied the woman from her school-like uniform top and leather cuffs down to her spike-studded heavy boots.

“Nice shoes,” Hall whispered enviously and unintentionally out loud.

The video resolution was not enough to accurately see the names on the two IDs, but Hall was able to get a still frame with enough of their faces to possibly get a match. The second video showed the same two people down in the morgue examining a body. She watched as the woman adjusted her right cuff before the lights went out. Then a UV light turned on and illuminated the two people over the body. While Hall couldn’t see the tattoo, it was obvious to her what they were after and why OMNI needed this handled as quickly as possible.

She went to the next video and saw the same young agent approach the front desk but this time with a near-middle-aged agent alongside him. She grabbed a still frame of the older agent and put it aside for facial recognition before moving onto the final file which showed the two of them in the security office discovering the looped hospital video.

Hall looked around to make sure she was still alone in that section of the building, then took off her coat and sat back down at her computer with the knowledge it would be a long night. She took the images of the three agents and fed them into the NCIS database. Slowly each picture matched a profile and she looked upon Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Special Agent Timothy McGee, and Abigail Sciuto who was not an Agent but rather a forensic scientist. She studied each of their impressive portfolios while also assembling the profiles of other members on the team. She rolled her eyes at the profile of Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo but wrote a stern warning in her notes about the Mossad Liaison, Ziva David.

She then opened another program which began recording and tracing cell phones belonging to each of the NCIS and FBI agents on the case. Though it was late at night, the program would continue running covertly and send their data to her OMNI server. As she prepared her report to send to DC, she ran through their profiles again as well as double-checking their histories. She saw NCIS listed as a previous employer for Mathis while Gibbs, Sciuto, and DiNozzo were also there.

“Ah,” she breathed. “So _you’re_ the one getting them on our case. But how did you get into the computers?”

She studied Agent Gibbs’ and DiNozzo’s backgrounds to see if there was any appreciable technical skill, but it was only the strange and gothic Abigail Sciuto that had a background strong enough to discover OMNI on her own. As she studied the psychological profile already included in her portfolio, she started wondering about this Sciuto woman’s viability as a recruit. DC had said the team was reported as too dedicated for recruitment, but then a strange thought occurred to her.

“She already wears cuffs,” Hall mumbled. “She’s a scientist and wears leather cuffs to work?”

She went back to the first video clip of her and McGee entering the hospital, then to the second clip of them in the morgue. She focused on her just before the lights went out and saw her adjust her cuff again.

_‘She covered up her right wrist while using a UV light… DC said this team is too loyal to be in OMNI, but… could she be… an Original?’_ Hall thought to herself as she sat back in her seat with her hand over her open but smiling mouth. _‘She works in the government but her tattoo is on her wrist and not her neck, so she couldn’t have been recruited recently.’_

She had no way to access the OMNI database of wanted Originals from her current desk, but she knew she needed to handle this carefully.

_‘If she is, she can’t be killed during the OMNI investigation or they’ll be fully committed to hunting us. It has to happen after the FBI’s warehouse operation and look like an accident. And if I’m the one that catches her, Zero might give me control of DC while someone I choose takes over Dallas.’_

Hall smiled at the plan she was forming in her head. While she hadn’t originally planned on betraying DC, the idea of having enough power over both Texas and the DC region meant that she might have enough resources to disappear cleanly if she ever wanted to get out of OMNI. And even if she didn’t want to disappear, she would have enough power over both regions that she would never have to worry about anything again. She began removing all aspects of Abigail Sciuto from her report for New York, but saved the information to the USB drive for future use. The others would be followed to see what NCIS was up to, but the Original was hers to kill.

NCIS

Riley chewed slowly at first, testing the sweet tang of the unknown barbecued pulled pork sandwich, then let out an approving moan. “Mmm, excellent, excellent, excellent! Good choice!”

McGee smiled and dipped a couple of his fries in ketchup. “I’m glad you like it. I took a wild guess when you said _‘surprise me,’_ but at least I now know that food is your weakness.”

Riley chuckled and chomped down another bite of his sandwich. Tim had barely stopped smiling since Riley had arrived even after his long day. It took more coaxing over the phone to convince Riley to come, but his defenses lowered with each menu item Tim read from the American Grill-themed restaurant. Even though Riley seemed to be enjoying their evening, Tim could tell something more than exhaustion was bothering him.

They both sported t-shirts but gotten comfortable in their boxers, and Riley made a point of wearing his glasses to make sure Tim would kiss him again. They ate at their stations while playing Riley’s hacker version of _Risk_. Currently, the game had Tim controlling almost three-quarters of the _Risk_ map, leaving Riley to put in a slight effort to force a stalemate. In their relaxed state, neither player was competing fiercely to win.

Riley sat at Tim’s electronics workstation that had been cleared off so there would be space for his laptop. In the long breaks they took from the game his legs would be propped up on the workstation and he leaned back in his chair while he ate. Tim faced the opposite wall with his desktop computer and large flat-screen monitor. The light in the main room was off, but light from the kitchen flooded in through the breakfast nook carved out of the kitchen wall. The glow from their screens was also joined by light from the street lamp outside as well as light from the bedroom.

Tim took a sip from his Coke and leaned back in his chair. “My brain is fried from sifting through accounts today.”

“Were you able to follow Manning’s money trail?” Riley asked.

“I tried, but they must’ve had dozens of people modifying these accounts to distribute the money. Ugh, I don’t want to think about it,” Tim lamented, also leaving out the events at the hospital. His mind ran through the remaining course of his work day as he stared off into nowhere. His lips tightened nervously when he remembered Gibbs’ words, _‘Just make sure you remember where you belong.’_

Riley tilted his head to the side. “What’cha thinking about?”

“Oh,” Tim shrugged, “Nothing, just… something that Gibbs said. I think he figured out what you and I were up to.”

“Yeah, Abby and I thought so too,” Riley agreed. “What did he say?”

“He told me to ‘remember where I belong.’ What do you think he meant by that?” Tim asked, hoping Riley would confirm his suspicions.

“So he knows about us, then,” Riley hummed and turned back to his screen.

Tim lowered his tone. “And that’s a bad thing?” he asked worriedly.

“Oh, no, no,” Riley shook his head. “Gibbs doesn’t care about things like that. But he probably thinks I’ll be a bad influence and convert you into an FBI agent.”

Tim gagged out a laugh, satisfied that Riley thought the same thing as him. Though beneath Riley’s statement there was a tone he couldn’t quite read. “You’re not serious? I mean, Gibbs knows I’d never just… up and leave like that, right?”

Riley shut his eyes and sighed for a moment, then dropped his legs from the desk and turned to fully face Tim. “You remember how I said I left NCIS just after my dad died? Well… it happened really suddenly and it really threw off the balance that we had as a team. It was me, Tony, Gibbs, and this other guy, Langer. We had a good thing going, but… I just couldn’t stay. After my dad died, I was being torn in all different directions. I felt like an orphan. I _was_ an orphan. I needed roots, and even though the team was working really well, it just… it wasn’t the home I needed, so I needed to make a change. Gibbs didn’t want me to go even though he understood that I needed to start over. It was really hard to make that decision, but it seemed like the right thing for me to do. He’s probably just making sure you know that NCIS is a better fit for you no matter what happens, or no matter what I say.”

Tim nodded and thought to himself, _‘So that’s all it was. He knows I’m with Riley and isn’t trying to make a move. He’s just wants me around as part of a good team. Whatever else might’ve happened is out of the picture. It’s time to let that go.’_ He felt happy that the questions in his mind and heart were answered, but he also felt a surprising weight of disappointment.

Riley reached back for his take-out container and sat it in his lap. “What about Tony and Ziva? How long do you think it’ll take them to put two and two together?”

Tim thought about it and shrugged. “I’m not sure. At first I was really nervous about doing anything at all because Tony had been teasing. But since then he’s not said anything about it and he and Ziva just went along with our fake fight.”

“I told you Tony was like that with me – teasing about it then stopping once he figured out it was true,” Riley concurred and slurped another noodle into his mouth. “I know I psyched myself into panic when I thought Tony would out me. I almost considered leaving because of it, but nothing ever happened. I don’t know Ziva, though.”

Tim nodded. “That first day you came by, she mentioned something about my type, but not in bad way, you know? Maybe I just overthought it. Abby approves, Ziva seems to be enjoying the prospect, and Gibbs just doesn’t care. So maybe Tony won’t be a problem? Maybe that’s also what Gibbs was telling me. That he knew and no matter what I thought, I wouldn’t have to leave NCIS just to be with you. Do you think he could’ve meant that?”

“With Gibbs, who knows?” Riley mused. “He definitely has a sentimental and soft side for people he considers family, like his team. It’s buried waaaaaay down there but once you’re there…” He drifted off into a pause but quickly remembered himself, heaved a downtrodden sigh and turned back to his computer. “Anyway, you wouldn’t want to be in leave the field for Cyber Crimes right now, whether it’s FBI _or_ NCIS. I spent three straight days fending off OMNI hackers, and just like everything else with OMNI it only ended badly.”

Tim saw the saddened look on Riley’s face and slowly rolled his chair over to him. “Hey… don’t keep beating yourself up over that kid.”

Riley smiled half-heartedly and took Tim’s hand in his. “It’s not just him, there’s been more. But I don’t want to ruin the night talking about that.”

“It’s okay,” Tim reassured him. “Besides, tonight’s your night and you look like you need to talk about it.”

This time Riley’s smile was heartfelt as he squeezed Tim’s hand and slowly swung their arms.

“Why are you so great?” He sighed and let his head fall back against the chair. “I just get a little crazy with this job, especially since OMNI’s been in the picture. My gut used to be spot on when it came to taking someone down, but now everything’s so convoluted that I don’t know what’s what. Even people around me are acting weird. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I have to keep figuring out who I can trust.”

Tim nodded and remembered the device they found at the hospital, and felt uneasy knowing he couldn’t tell Riley he could be in OMNI’s sights too. But he leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. “You can trust me.”

A slight flicker of guilt and discomfort dotted Riley’s eyes as he forced a smile. “I know,” he replied.

Tim sensed Riley’s discomfort and thought he needed a change of subject, so he turned back to the game. “Even if you do cheat. I recognized a couple of your dirty tricks earlier. One of the many tricks up your sleeve, I presume?”

Riley scoffed and took another bite of his food. “Oh please, that’s not dirty. That’s routine.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed and his smile slimmed to a cool smirk as he swiveled around in his chair to face Riley. “Really? I’d like to see what you call a dirty trick.”

“No you do-on’t,” Riley warned in a sing-song voice, some spirit returning to his demeanor. “My dirty tricks are mean. Don’t let the glasses fool you, I’m not a goody-two-shoes agent.”

Tim felt that Riley’s warning was only enticing him further into a trap, but he didn’t care. Computers were his world, and now was the time to be bold. He leaned forward and replied, “Sounds like somebody’s got more bark than bite.”

“Oh-ho…” Riley cooed and quickly sat upright. “Ok, ok. Care to make it interesting?”

“What did you have in mind?” Tim asked, cocking his eyebrow up in curiosity.

Riley stood up and rounded Tim’s bookshelf, quickly searching across the titles until he pulled out Tim’s copy of _The Hobbit_ and held it out for Tim to see. “I left my copy at home, and I always like to read a chapter or two before I go to bed. So how about this – loser has to read a chapter out loud for the winner before bed.”

Tim tilted his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows. “You want me to read to you? Aren’t you 33 now?”

“Why not?” Riley asked unashamedly. “I’ve always wanted to see what it’d be like to cuddle up and read to someone, it just never really got there with anyone. Plus, this book now has significance to our relationship since you are the only living being allowed to call me short. To me, reading books is a very intimate time. You open your mind up to pretty much anything, you’re completely immersed in whatever you’re reading, and if you’re with someone then you don’t have to say anything but you are just there together in that vulnerable state. It’s the bookworm’s version of a relationship where you leave the bathroom door open when you pee.”

Tim chuckled at the thought and took the book in his hands. “I never thought of it like that before. So… you’re saying you want to be in that kind of intimate relationship with me?”

“And leave the bathroom door open when I pee,” Riley clarified with a grin. “But seriously, I think I’m ready to get serious about us if you are.”

Tim’s heart skipped. With the direct affirmation of feelings from someone who wanted him, he felt so alive he could fly. It was safe but adventurous, and totally different from what he felt yearning for Gibbs. He tipped his forehead down to Riley’s and whispered, “I’d love that.”

Riley smiled and put a hand on Tim’s cheek. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be available much while this OMNI shindig is happening, but I know that being able to call you my boyfriend when I can would be amazing.”

Tim hummed happily and wrapped his arm around Riley, holding him close. Riley sniggered into Tim’s shirt and Tim could once again feel the smile without seeing it, and made him smile as well. Then Tim tipped Riley’s head back and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

“That sounds great… but I’m not reading to you until you beat me in _Risk,_ ” Tim reminded him.

“Dammit!” Riley groaned and sauntered to his computer. “Alright, let’s do this.”

Tim turned back to his screen and began meticulously inspecting his remaining servers that greatly outnumbered Riley’s. He didn’t notice anything immediately happening, so the more rattling he heard from Riley’s rapid keyboard- and mouse-clicking, the more his confidence slowly whittled away. At one point he thought he heard Riley dig into his computer bag for something, but he didn’t turn to look.

Then suddenly something appeared on the screen that caught his eye. It was red text saying that Riley had dropped from the game server and that Tim would win by default if Riley didn’t re-connect within ten seconds. Tim opened his mouth to comment, but then a message in green text quickly appeared saying that Riley had re-joined the game. He suddenly had a very bad feeling.

“What did you do?” he asked, quietly trying to disguise any surprise or worry.

Riley replied sweetly and deceitfully, “Nothing.”

Tim rolled his eyes at the predictable answer, then doubled down on checking his own servers and Riley’s offensive line. He was typing a command when a very pronounced and definitive slap of a key from Riley’s laptop sounded, and then he heard the squeak of Riley’s chair as the other man stood and crossed the room. Hands appeared on Tim’s shoulders and slid down his torso while Riley started kissing the side of Tim’s head down to his ears.

Tim felt goosebumps shoot up over his entire body and gasped. “ _This_ is your dirty trick?”

The only response was teeth gently gnawing at the flesh below Tim’s ear, igniting every nerve in his skin. Tim tried as hard as he could to focus on the game, even though nothing had changed on the screen. He tried to speak, but his breathing was shallow and uneven.

“This… won’t work. It’s dirty… but I’m still winning!”

Riley breathed a small giggle into Tim’s ear. “Oh, this isn’t the trick. _That_ is.”

Tim’s eyes went wide when the game’s screen froze with a box in the center saying that _he_ had disconnected from the game and would forfeit if he didn’t reconnect in ten seconds. He snapped out of the reverie of Riley’s touches and tried to reconnect. After failing, he checked his internet connection and couldn’t get out of his network. Riley kept his hands on Tim’s chest and his head on Tim’s shoulder despite being momentarily ignored, and his satisfied smile grew wider and wider as the seconds passed.

“What did you do?” Tim asked with clear surprise and panic. “Did you just kick me out of the game?”

“Well, not exactly…” Riley softly teased. “I did a factory reset on your modem, so it’s gonna be offline for a bit.”

Tim’s jaw dropped. “You WHAT?! How? But… but now you’re offline too!”

Riley licked his lips and spun Tim’s chair around. His laptop was connected to his phone by a USB cable, keeping his computer connected to the internet and the game running. Tim was dumbfounded to think of how Riley hacked through the passwords to manage the modem. He felt cheated but was too impressed by the implications to feel bitter about it. The game counted down to victory on Riley’s screen and sounded a celebratory chime.

“Game over!” Riley raised his arms and boasted in an announcer voice. “The Halflings wiiiiiiin!”

Tim was more surprised than anything else. “But- but-” he stammered, “you cheated! You went outside the game and even shut off my freaking internet!”

Riley still wore a content smile on his face and leaned back against Tim’s desk. “There’s no rulebook for this game! And besides, you said you wanted dirty. I could’ve just unplugged your computer, but that’s not my style.”

Tim snorted out a chuckle and slowly stood up to Riley. He couldn’t deny being impressed with Riley’s tenacity. He slid his hands around the other man’s hips and pulled him close. Their noses nuzzled for a moment and their foreheads gently met.

Tim whispered, “You’re really something, I’ll give you that. There’s no end to the tricks up your sleeve when you want to win.”

Riley smiled. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” Tim mumbled. “Just another thing I like about you.”

“I really like you too,” Riley replied and gently pressed his lips to Tim’s. “A lot. And now you owe me a bedtime story. I’m gonna brush up, be ready in 10?”

Tim pressed for another kiss and slipped a hand under the hem of Riley’s shirt onto his hip. Riley quietly gasped and nibbled at Tim’s lips, then pulled away to get to his overnight bag. Tim turned and walked through the bedroom to his bathroom to brush his teeth. Reading a book out loud wasn’t part of his usual nightly ritual, but he simply couldn’t miss a stroke of tooth-brushing. When he got out, Riley was propped up on the bed waiting for him looking tired but excited. He was stripped down to just his underwear, which prompted Tim to follow suit.

“So how exactly does this work?” Tim asked as strode over to his side of the bed. The copy of _The Hobbit_ waited daringly for him, having been read several times but never like this.

Riley smiled and slipped under the covers. “I think I just sit here and listen while you read, and hopefully not fall asleep. I don’t want to miss a single word of my prize. Let me just find my place.”

Tim chuckled and slipped into bed. Riley flipped through the book, skimming through until he found passages that he freshly recognized. He stayed sitting upright on the bed after handing Tim the book.

“Just to be clear,” Riley added, “I won’t embarrass you by making you do special voices of the characters. I could, but I won’t.”

Tim smiled and started reading.

_“Chapter Nine: Barrels out of Bond._

_The day after the battle with the spiders Bilbo and the dwarves made one last despairing effort to find a way out before they died of hunger and thirst.”_

Riley grinned and shut his eyes as Tim read on. Every now and then, Tim would notice Riley sink sleepily down further towards the bed and closer to Tim. Tim actually enjoyed being that close to Riley and knowing that he was listening, drawing comfort from the sound of his voice. He began to feel the closeness Riley had mentioned, and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever experienced it before and reveled in it now. When it came time for dialogue in the story, Tim was too wrapped up in the act of reading to Riley to _not_ employ his rendition of Balin’s voice.

_“’What have we done, O King?’”_ he grumbled out in a low, exhausted voice which earned a snort and laugh from Riley. As he resumed, a hand slid its way across his waist and Riley curled up close to him with a smile planted firmly on his face. Tim rested his arm on Riley’s shoulder and continued to read.

The chapter went on for much longer than Tim remembered as it took much more time to read it aloud than quietly to himself. Tim paused to see that it was long past 1 AM, and Riley was sleeping contently with his arm still wrapped around Tim’s waist. He studied Riley’s form as his chest rose and sunk with his breath, tracing the skin of his rounded biceps across to his shoulders and down his back. He felt stirrings of lust in his groin looking at him, but the burning feeling in his heart made it clear that he really was starting to fall for Riley. Deciding it was late enough even though they were still in the middle of the chapter, Tim set the book aside, turned off the bedside light, and pulled Riley onto his chest.

Before closing his eyes he whispered, “Happy birthday, Riley.”


	12. Chapter 11

NCIS

Tim’s heart pounded in his ears, nudging its low thuds through the high din of the rain around him. His lungs were on fire, his calves were almost audibly begging for a stop, and his waterlogged arms felt heavy as he sprinted past a row of houses.

“Come on, just another couple of blocks!” Riley yelled back from a few yards in front of Tim.

It was a rainy Tuesday morning, and after two days apart Riley had asked Tim to exercise with him before work that morning. Riley had already walked him through a couple of weight lifting exercises, though Tim found it difficult to concentrate with a view up Riley’s shorts during the bench press. As the final leg of their workout, Riley took Tim along a shorter version of his usual morning jog.

At the first sign of Tim’s protest about the rain, Riley once again had them both stand out in the rain for a few minutes until they were both thoroughly soaked. Tim was reminded of their first _real_ kiss outside the theater. It wasn’t a kiss of utility like at the club, but a kiss of desire and passion. As he stood adjusting to the rain with his eyes closed it didn’t take long before he felt Riley’s lips on his again, clearing away all the discomfort brought by the rain. Once Tim was fully committed to jogging through the downpour, he actually found the spring rain quite refreshing as he went. He was used to jogging off and on, but Riley’s workout was more thorough and the rain felt cool on his aching muscles.

Now he would’ve been grateful for just a moment’s rest and his skin felt numb from the cold water. Despite his shorter legs, Riley was used to jogging at a faster pace and if anything had to slow down to let Tim keep up. As they rounded the corner of Riley’s building Tim let out a moan of relief. He slowed for a breath next to a new-looking yellow Chevrolet Camaro parked in a line of cars, but the memory of being in traction after crashing his own Camaro at 16 spurred him on and away from the vehicle. He pressed as hard as he could to continue his pace into the building up the stairs, but nearly fell over while Riley was unlocking his apartment.

“Come on,” Riley chuckled between breaths.

Tim stumbled inside and landed on the small bench by the door where Riley kept the towels. Tim could only think about picking one up but instead only managed to sputter, “That was… that… oof…” between breaths.

Riley pulled off his shoes, then picked up his own leg and began his winding-down stretches. “No, no, no, you’re not finished yet, Tim. You gotta stretch your legs or they’ll fall off before lunch.”

Tim’s arms stayed lazily flopped to his sides while he caught his breath. His drenched grey Navy t-shirt clung tightly to his chest and his running shorts were riding up further than he liked, but he was too exhausted to do anything about either issue at the moment. He looked up at Riley completely dazed in a silent plea for help.

“Alright, I’ve got you,” Riley conceded.

He took Tim’s right leg and stretched it outward and inward to loosen up the muscles. He avoided Tim’s eyes as he drew closer to him, his cool, wet hands gripping Tim’s flesh tightly. Even in his exhausted state, Tim could feel Riley’s warm breath enticing him. As Riley took Tim’s left leg in his hands and slowly leaned in, Tim could feel the nervous tremors passing from Riley’s torso into Tim’s leg.

There was a squeak as Riley’s wet sock slipped on the wood laminate floor, and in a split second Tim’s arms snapped shut around Riley’s waist to hold him up and Riley’s hand pressed against Tim’s chest for support. Tim looked down into the deep blue pools of Riley’s eyes that never failed to draw him in. The world was gone again – the cold cling of his soaked clothes, gone, the rain tapping at the window, silent, and even the groans of relief stayed trapped in Tim’s throat. Just the pounding of heartbeats and the weary grunts of shaky breaths filled the small, tense space between them. Their noses were just barely touching, and the weight of Tim’s head inched him forward.

Riley’s face slid gently forward, letting Tim’s cheek to nuzzle longingly against Riley’s damp forehead. Tim drank in the contact, pressing gently against him, their panting mouths pecking the other’s skin. The electricity of their connecting skin was charged with possibilities – the taste of the other’s skin and sweat, the pressure of Riley’s hand in Tim’s, the friction Tim would feel against Riley’s hips if they continued.

As the tension between them grew, they both could sense they were nearing the point of no return and needed to stop if they didn’t want to risk being late for work. Riley quickly took a rolled-up towel from next to Tim and pushed himself up, drying his hair and grinning stupidly.

“Coffee?” he asked.

Tim smiled admiringly at the other man’s teasing and conviction, then exhaled exhaustedly. “Yes, and some water. Thank you,” he replied as he kicked off his shoes and also started to dry himself off.

“Cool. You can toss your clothes into the washer, I’ll do them tonight.”

Tim scowled. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

Riley shrugged and peeled off his black sleeveless gym shirt. “You mean you want mold growing in your gym bag? Besides, it’s not like you won’t be back for it sooner or later, right?” he argued as he opened one of the closet doors and dropped his shirt and socks into the washing machine.

Tim watched as Riley padded into the kitchen. He couldn’t help but visually trace the tail of Riley’s griffin tattoo down under the waistband of his shorts, taking one last lustful look before returning to the real world. He followed Riley’s advice by pulling off his shirt and socks and putting them into the washing machine, but immediately opened his gym bag in the foyer and put on a fresh undershirt before following Riley. Looking out into the rest of the apartment, Tim noticed that the cloudy weather only increased the deafening monochrome of the apartment’s black-white-and-gray color scheme, which also made Riley’s bare torso stand out in complete contrast. Tim couldn’t help himself but to be drawn back to Riley, snaking his hands around the man and kissing his neck while Riley smiled and prepared the coffee machine.

“I like when you do that,” Riley hummed before moaning gently in pleasure. “I could get used to you hanging around here.”

Tim smiled into the black hair and squeezed him. “What can I say? I missed you the last couple of days.”

Riley turned around and ran his hands up Tim’s arms. “I missed you too, but I thought it was a good idea to keep things going steady and not get ahead of ourselves. Besides, we’re still both hunting OMNI and that is taxing.”

“Mmm,” Tim hummed and gave him a brief kiss on the lips, savoring the small contact. “Yeah, you’re right, but I still like this time.” He released Riley and sat down at one of the kitchen island stools.

“Alright,” Riley called while taking a bottle of water from his fridge and setting it on the island counter for Tim. “So let’s see where we are. Manning works for OMNI for a year doing successful E deals, then one week he gets a batch swapped with PCP and one of his clients is killed by overdosing. Next week, he tries some of the tainted PCP, OD’s, then is murdered while in a coma.”

Tim gratefully sipped the water between thoughts. “Being watched by us puts a target on his head. He OD’s, OMNI sends someone in to make sure he dies and they sweep the hospital video of it happening. Only leads we have to go on are the assassin, described as a bald male nurse, the modified hospital footage, and the video from a nearby building showing a silver Honda, but not enough detail for the license plate.”

“Right, and because silver Hondas are so rare it’ll be easy to find,” Riley quipped sarcastically. He leaned back against the counter with the towel over his bare shoulders and downed the last of his own water bottle. “And you have just over 36 hours to figure out where Manning’s supplier will be before you miss your window.”

Tim continued, “Ok so let’s go back to Manning. If OMNI wanted him dead, the supplier probably would’ve killed him instead of giving him another shipment, right? So that means at 1 AM on Thursday, OMNI wanted him alive. He spends the whole day inside managing OMNI’s banking errands and divvying up what he thinks is Ecstasy but is another round of PCP. By mid-evening we’re outside his apartment watching him, at which point he takes enough PCP to OD, then OMNI wants him dead.”

“But you said Ducky thought Manning injected it on purpose,” Riley noted. “That brings us to the question of why he took the Ecstasy in the first place if there was a chance it could be PCP, and why OMNI would’ve let a batch of tainted PCP go out under the guise of E.”

Tim rested his arm on the counter and used it to prop up his head as he thought. “I have no idea. If he thought his one client’s stash was tainted, maybe he wanted to test out the rest of the batch to see if it was safe. That’s unusual dedication to quality control for a drug dealer. But even that wouldn’t explain why he took as much as he did. If he was testing it, he’d know how much to take without OD-ing.”

The coffee machine beeped, and Riley was silent as he poured the coffee into separate mugs. He gave Tim a mug but stood on the other side of the island from him, staring blankly into the counter while thinking. Then he looked up with wide eyes.

“How did OMNI know?” he asked.

Tim frowned. “Know what?”

“That he was being watched? How could OMNI have known you were onto him, thus deciding to kill him unless…”

“Unless they were already watching him!” Tim completed.

“Right! You didn’t even know about OMNI when you were investigating him, so they weren’t following NCIS, they just saw you watching him. Now, a marine wouldn’t simply kill himself just because he was told to. He’d fight.” Riley continued and started pacing. “Could someone have gotten in there under your nose to give him the dose?”

“No, unless it was a neighbor, but all the neighbors were totally clean. Tony and Ziva even checked them for the UV tattoos.”

“So if no one went there to kill him, then somehow he was convinced to kill himself instead of run,” Riley reasoned. “But there were no calls on his phone and his computer was off.”

Tim thought back to the scene of Manning’s apartment. He vividly remembered the scintillating shiver running through his body from the spot on his neck where Gibbs kissed him, however unintentionally or not, as well as the feeling of confusion about Gibbs’ distance afterward. He also remembered feeling satisfied when slamming Manning’s laptop shut and stuffing it in a bag after seeing it was password-protected. He had slammed the laptop shut.

“No, it wasn’t,” he breathed.

“Huh?” Riley grunted through a sip of his coffee.

Tim’s jaw hung open slightly as he reaffirmed his thoughts. “The laptop was still open when we were there. It was locked, but it was on. I remember.”

Riley leaned back against the refrigerator in surprise. “So they could’ve contacted him through the laptop after seeing he was compromised, then laptop locked itself after inactivity while he was OD-ing.”

“Oh god,” Tim groaned dishearteningly. “OMNI wasn’t warning him, they were controlling him. They could’ve given him a way out, but he wasn’t high enough on the food chain to be worth saving.” He thudded his fist against the island counter in frustration.

“But don’t you see?” Riley continued. “He could’ve run no matter what they said, but he didn’t. The only OMNI agents that have come to us at the FBI are the ones that have nothing to lose. So that means that Manning had something pretty valuable to lose, and OMNI was threatening _that_!”

Tim rounded the kitchen island to give Riley a hard kiss and quickly lunged for his bag. “He’s protecting something or someone, and that’s our next step! You are brilliant!”

“Glad I could help,” Riley chirped while taking another drink of his coffee and watching Tim get ready to leave. “Get going and call-”

“-Gibbs, way ahead of you,” Tim completed with his phone next to his ear.

NCIS

McGee enjoyed a certain balance when working with the team. Whether it was with Kate or Ziva, the four agents worked fluidly together with Gibbs at the helm. On the rare occasion when an additional agent was thrown into the mix, such as Agent Lee or Agent Cassidy, the dynamic was thrown off because of the agent’s unfamiliarity with working with Gibbs. McGee was glad to be getting feedback from Riley without the imbalance of him being with the team. Getting to continue dating him was also doing wonders for McGee’s mood.

McGee was the first to arrive despite the morning workout session, followed shortly by Gibbs who started his computer but then immediately left for the Director’s office. Tony sauntered in ten minutes later with a cup of coffee that didn’t seem to have kicked in yet.

“’Morning, McGee,” he mumbled. “You’re here early.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled without looking up from his screen. “We have a new theory about Corporal Manning that he was coerced into killing himself.”

“‘We?’” He asked as he dropped his gear bag next to his desk.

“Oh, something Riley and I came up with,” McGee blurted out, not realizing what he was headed into.

Tony quickly perked up with interest and smiled broadly. “You and Riley met again, huh? I wouldn’t have thought you two would even think of seeing each other after the other day.”

McGee rolled his eyes. “It was just for work, Tony,” he deflected reflexively, but suddenly remembered his inside joke with Riley and had to pinch himself to stop himself from smiling about it. “Besides, we both knew if Gibbs saw that happen again he’d string us both up.”

He grunted suspiciously and sat back in his chair, arms folded and looking at him. “Ziva’s not here and I’m not an idiot, Tim. I had a couple of days to think about the little scene with you, Riley, and Abby, and it started to seem almost too perfect…”

McGee realized that there’d be no getting around Tony this time, so he looked up at him and smirked. “And what would Ziva say if she knew you were saying that?”

Tony cackled victoriously knowing that he was on the right path and rolled his chair over to McGee’s desk. “Funny enough, Ziva told me I had to be the one to ask. So you three _were_ playing a trick on us?”

McGee nodded silently and kept looking at his screen. “And you ate it right up.”

Tony grunted with annoyed admittance. “But are you and Riley actually…?” He held up his right hand with his index and middle fingers crossed to show what he meant.

McGee smiled and his cheeks betrayed a slight pink despite his best efforts to remain stone-faced. “Maybe.”

“Nuh-uh!” Tony protested and pointed his finger into McGee’s face. “That’s not a ‘maybe’ face, that’s an ‘I’m getting laid’ face. I know because I’ve only seen it once on you before.”

McGee swatted his hand away and grunted in frustration. “See, Tony! That’s exactly why I didn’t want to say anything because I knew you’d tease me about it! And…” he lowered his voice, “I’ve had plenty of sex before, since you mentioned it.”

“I’m not teasing you about-” he quickly dropped his voice to a whisper, “ _liking men,_ that’d just be cruel. But be serious, Tim, if I stopped teasing you about _everything_ , even the Director would know something’s wrong. I have to fulfill my Senior Field Agent duties, after all,” he added with a dignified upright posture.

McGee wasn’t completely convinced. “So you, the former basketball jock, the ex-Baltimore Cop, the serial ladies’ man, you honestly would have no problem if Riley and I, two men, were together?”

“No problem?” Tony scoffed. “It’d be great! Neither of you have had lasting relationships as long as I’ve known you, and Riley might just be the one man on the planet nerdy enough to understand you _and_ be sane enough to wield a gun.”

McGee sighed, shut his eyes, and slowly massaged his temples with the tips of his fingers. “It’s like I can hear the compliments trying to exist in your insults.”

Tony rolled his eyes but then planted his hand firmly on McGee’s desk. “Okay well in all seriousness, if you two are together, I’m happy for you. The only thing I ask is that Ziva doesn’t get to know that I know.”

“Why?” McGee eyed him suspiciously.

Tony shot him a disbelieving scoff and rolled back to his desk. “Uh, why else? So I can pretend I was in on it all along and that the prank was all on her. Duh!”

McGee held his suspicious look.

“Oh come on!” Tony begged. He stood up from his desk and walked in front of McGee’s desk with his hands together in front of him. “I’ll bring you coffee every morning for the rest of the week.”

“Hmm,” McGee pondered the offer. “Coffee for a whole week, and no _McNicknames_ for a month.”

Tony’s eye twitched and he froze. “A… A whole month? What about a week?”

“Two weeks,” McGee countered, “and coffee for two weeks.”

Tony opened his mouth for another counter-offer, but was interrupted by the elevator door’s bell. They both knew who would be coming out of the elevator.

McGee smiled menacingly. “That’s my offer, or I tell her the prank _and_ that you wanted to trick her on top of that. She will grind you to pieces.”

“Fine!” Tony conceded quietly and thrust his hands in his pockets. “Fine. Coffee and no names for two weeks.”

Ziva approached the bullpen curiously after seeing the other two agents talking, but became suspicious when they both stopped talking upon seeing her. “Good morning… what’s going on?”

Tony stammered, “N-nothing. McGee was just telling me about his theory on Manning’s death. Right?”

McGee smirked and pulled up a crime scene photo on the TV screen which showed the open laptop on Manning’s coffee table. “Right. See how his laptop was still on when we got there? I’m thinking that OMNI could’ve communicated with him and talked him into killing himself. I pulled the SIM data we kept from his laptop and I was able to confirm a large amount of data usage on the account just before the initial overdose, which could indicate a video call.”

“Blackmailed into suicide, that’s a rare one here,” Ziva shrugged as she logged into her computer. “What makes you think that?”

Tony nodded in agreement and backtracked to his desk. “His cell logs were clean and his neighbors all came back clear, and he was murdered at the hospital so his OD wasn’t an accident.”

“And no one came to his apartment,” McGee added, “so something had to happen to convince him to kill himself instead of being arrested by us. I think he’s protecting something or someone.”

“Maybe being arrested and jailed was reason enough,” Ziva argued. “Some career marines don’t take court-martial very well.”

McGee shook his head. “I don’t think that’s what he was worried about, though. Dealing drugs would’ve only meant a few years in prison, not something worth killing yourself over. I still think we’re missing something. I’m double-checking his financials and not just the OMNI ones he was managing.”

Ziva called, “I’ll check his family.”

Tony nodded and continued, “I’ll check the C.O. again.”

McGee smiled briefly in comfort knowing his teammates were on-point. He relished in them getting to work on his theory without questioning his experience or waiting for affirmation. They didn’t always need Gibbs to tell them what to do, though his guiding hand smacking the backs of their heads was helpful and endearing. So far the day had been going exceptionally well for McGee, and he felt amazing. McGee and Ziva tapped through their computers while Tony made calls to Manning’s commanding officer. About 10 minutes later, Gibbs returned.

“What are you all so quiet about?”

McGee looked up at Gibbs. “We have a theory that OMNI had leverage on Manning which they used to coerce him into killing himself. I’m trying to see if he was transferring money into family accounts, but his financials don’t show anything. If he was making money from his OMNI dealings, he kept it in cash.”

“But not in his apartment,” Tony chimed, “since we scrubbed every inch of that place. His C.O. confirmed that our original dead guy, Nielsen, was the only person Manning really talked to within their unit.”

“And as we found before, no money with him either,” McGee continued. “So Manning would need someone else he trusts to hold onto it. That same person could’ve been threatened by OMNI.”

Ziva stood up. “Manning’s mother, Karen, and his younger brother, Aiden, live in an apartment in Greenbelt. They’re his only next-of-kin.”

“Grab your gear,” Gibbs ordered.

NCIS

McGee, Tony, and Ziva followed trailed behind Gibbs up to Karen Manning’s apartment. After he knocked on the door, it was answered by a brunette in her early 40’s. She had the look of permanent exhaustion that McGee recognized on each single parent he encountered, but her appearance was otherwise well put-together.

“May I help you?” she asked.

Gibbs opened his badge and began, “Mrs. Manning, Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your son, Thomas Manning.”

Her hand instinctively went over her mouth in shock and her eyes clamped shut, but she slowly opened the door to allow them in. The apartment was small and carpeted, but the organization of the furniture helped maximize the space. Children’s toys were scattered across the carpet in the living room, the light blue paint and buyer-assembled furniture seemed worn, and while there was a TV and a cheap laptop, there were no signs of more valuable objects that the four agents could see. Around a wall to the left was the kitchen, and a carpeted hallway led from the kitchen to the bedrooms.

Karen sat promptly on the couch breathing heavily, visibly trying not to cry. “He’s gone, then?”

Gibbs said nothing, but Tony stepped in.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Thomas died.”

A sob escaped Karen’s mouth, but she held in the rest, still trying to steady her shaking breath.

A small voice spoke up from the kitchen. “Mommy?” A small boy in dark blue pajamas holding a stuffed rabbit was peeking from the kitchen doorway into the living room.

“Aiden,” Karen gasped and quickly went over to him. She knelt and felt his forehead with her wrist, then whispered urgently, “Sweetie, you need to go back to your room and get some rest, ok? You still have a fever. I’ll be there in a little bit to read you a story, but go back to your room.”

“Ok,” the boy croaked and slowly sauntered back down the hall.

Ziva looked from Tony back to Karen. “Your son?”

Karen returned her gaze and opened her mouth as if to say something, but looked back towards the hallway. After being sure Aiden was back in his room, she quietly returned to the couch. “What happened?”

As Gibbs began explaining, McGee and Tony slowly walked in opposite directions around the room to scan for any clues or glimpses into Thomas Manning’s relationship with his mother and brother.

“We believe he was murdered, Mrs. Manning,” Gibbs answered.

“In the line of duty?” she asked hopefully.

Gibbs blinked for a moment. “No, off-duty.”

Karen sighed and sobbed again. “No, no… not my Tommy… I told him not to keep doing it.”

Both Gibbs and Ziva were immediately interested.

Ziva asked, “Doing what?”

Karen looked at the two of them, not noticing or minding the other agents’ absence. “NCIS… You’re with the Navy, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

She crossed her arms in front of her and held herself tight. “He said he was winning poker games,” she scoffed. “At first I believed it, but not for long. I couldn’t believe Tommy was making all that money _every_ month from his buddies. He wouldn’t tell me what he was _really_ up to, but he promised me it was all ok and that he knows what he’s doing.”

“What did you suspect?” Gibbs asked.

“Lots of things. I think maybe he’s selling sperm, or in some stupid part-time pyramid scheme, maybe even stripping or doing porn, but I just hope he isn’t… isn’t… wasn’t…” her sniffing broke up her words.

“It’s ok. Wasn’t doing what?” Gibbs continued.

She paused for a moment before admitting, “A dealer.”

Gibbs hummed in acknowledgement.

“That’s what he was, wasn’t he?” Karen guessed, and brought a hand up to her cheek to wipe away a tear.

McGee slowly made his way into the kitchen, looking at picture frames showing a younger Karen with another man closer to her age and a small child, presumably her late husband and Thomas. As he rounded the kitchen wall, he looked down the hallway to see Aiden halfway through his bedroom door. The child then signaled for McGee to come closer. McGee looked behind him to see if he really meant him, then slowly walked closer. At Aiden’s insistence, McGee knelt down to face him.

Aiden whispered hoarsely, “Are you one of the good guys?”

“Yes,” McGee answered quietly. “We’re trying to help your brother.”

“Do you have a badge?”

McGee smiled and retrieved his badge for the boy. “How old are you?”

Aiden read it for a moment, then handed it back. “I’m six. Tommy told me that good guys have a real badge. You promise you’re a not just a bad guy?”

“I promise. My name is Special Agent Timothy McGee.”

Aiden nodded. “Tommy gave me something to give to you.”

He walked back into his room and opened a toy box. Digging down past several small cars, he pulled out a folded piece of paper with an SD memory card tightly strapped to it with a rubber band. He slowly returned to where McGee was kneeling and handed it to him.

McGee quickly put on a latex glove before accepting it, then eyed it curiously. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” he answered sleepily. “He just said if good guys came looking for him and they had a real badge, then I needed to give it to them. Is Tommy ok?”

McGee looked heartbrokenly at the child. “Thank you for this. You should go get some sleep, and you and your mom can talk about this later, ok?”

Aiden nodded and turned back to his room.

Ziva sat on the couch next to Karen, not putting her arm around her but being supportive. “What made you start to suspect something was wrong with him?”

Karen took a deep breath. “Tommy used to always come by every couple of weeks. He would sometimes bring food or a couple of hundred bucks to help out with the bills. Then about a year ago, he started bringing about two thousand with him. I said it was too much, but he wanted me to save it for Aiden.”

Gibbs wasn’t surprised to hear about the money, but was glad to finally know where it went. “That’s a lot of money to leave to his brother.”

Karen looked up guiltily at him, then searched the kitchen doorway and listened for Aiden, and slowly turned back to Gibbs. She lowered her voice. “Listen, it’s not his fault. I don’t want Aiden to know.”

“Know what?” Ziva whispered.

Karen sighed. “Aiden’s not Tommy’s brother, he’s his son. I’m really Aiden’s grandmother. Tommy got a girl pregnant when he was 17, and she didn’t want anything to do with him or the baby. I raised Tommy by myself, I knew how difficult it was, and I didn’t want that for him. We agreed on it, and I claimed Aiden as my son so that both of them could live normal lives. I told Tommy that Aiden would be ok, but Tommy wanted to make sure Aiden could afford college when I retire.”

McGee and Tony returned to the living room to hear the end of the statement.

Karen buried her head in her hands. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she sobbed.

Gibbs softly spoke, “We need the money he gave you as evidence.”

Karen nodded and walked back to her bedroom. Tony busied himself by preparing an evidence bag while McGee whispered to Gibbs.

“Found something that the kid was holding for Manning.”

“Hold onto it until we get in the car,” Gibbs advised.

Karen returned with a few stacks of bills wrapped with rubber bands and gave them to Tony, who put them in his evidence bag.

“Thank you, ma’am. If anything else comes up, we’ll let you know,” he added.

Karen merely nodded and sat on the couch while the agents departed. Once they were inside the car, McGee reached into his pocket and pulled out the evidence bag with the memory card and paper.

“What’s that?” Tony asked.

“Aiden said Manning gave it to him to give to us if we ever showed up,” McGee explained. He pulled out an extra pair of latex gloves from his bag for Gibbs, then began gently unfolding the paper.

The paper was covered in black scrawled ink with various phone numbers, license plates, addresses, and even the OMNI symbol on the right just over his ID number, ‘0515.’ Tony and Ziva huddled together to get a look, and McGee kept it low enough so that no one outside the building could see it. Gibbs squinted at the list of addresses and timestamps trying to read them through the scribbled handwriting.

“Addresses…” Gibbs began, “Dealer’s route?”

McGee nodded in agreement. “Manning must’ve followed his dealer to find out where the other agents were.”

A loud engine roar disrupted McGee’s thought, and the agents looked up to see a yellow Camaro having just passed them heading up the street.

Ziva ignored it and pointed to the list of plates with car descriptions. “And look, there’s our missing silver Honda from outside the hospital. Looks like there are several cars for one dealer.”

Tony frowned. “What do you think’s on the memory card?”

McGee didn’t answer, eyes still fixed up the road where the car was now out of sight.

“McGee?” Gibbs asked before looking in the same direction.

He blinked, unsure how to answer. “Not sure, Boss. Not to be paranoid but I think I’ve seen that car already today.”

Gibbs started the car and looked around. “Where?”

“Earlier when I was out running. I don’t know for sure but-”

“Your gut,” Gibbs huffed.

Gibbs pulled the car out onto the street, zooming up to the intersection where the Camaro turned. After checking multiple intersections and streets around where they were, there was no sign of the car.

Ziva looked around unconvincingly. “Are you sure it was the same car, McGee?”

“I think so,” he replied, and looked down at the memory card. The great feeling he had at the beginning of the day quickly shriveled away. “Manning knew his family was being watched by OMNI, and looks like we were right about them watching us at the hospital.”

Gibbs revved up the engine and lit up the police lights on the car. “Then whatever we’ve just picked up is big enough to have them worried. Call Abby, have her set up a clean computer to test the card. Tell her we’ll be there in 15.”

NCIS

Abby sighed contently as she marveled at her work. “I just love when our suspects use modern technology!”

She and McGee stood in front of her lab’s workstation where she was downloading pictures off the small memory card retrieved from Corporal Manning’s family. They had already done multiple tests to ensure safety, and after finding no viruses or anything of consequence they began checking it on Abby’s main computer. The screen in front of her flashed with the various images as they copied off the card.

McGee smiled at her comment. “You mean you like it when our suspects make our jobs easier?”

“Duh,” she scoffed. “Digital cameras leave timestamps in the picture’s data which takes out _so_ much work for us, and not to mention just setting up the dark room to develop regular film takes forever! I mean, I’d have to seal off my entire back room, turn off all the lights, mix chemicals, hang up my black curtains…” her voice trailed off as her fingers rubbed together like she was feeling something between them, and she let out a soft moan. “Aww, now I miss my black curtains.”

McGee rolled his eyes. “Don’t you have money you need to be fingerprinting?”

“I’ll get around to it,” she droned. Then she smiled and leaned back on the workstation with an expectant smile. “So how did Riley like his birthday dinner?”

“You were right,” McGee replied with a smile as he remembered reading to Riley and falling asleep together. “Bought him barbecue for dinner and we had a nice night.”

Abby snorted and rolled her eyes. “You guys are spending a lot of time together. Ugh, I’d need space. I don’t need a guy hanging over me all the time.”

He shrugged and turned from the computer. “We’re not around each other _all_ the time. Work for both of us gets in the way. I’m not even sure if I’ll see him again before this case is done, or… if I even should. We’re getting serious, but I just hate the feeling of being followed and don’t want him dealing with that too. I can’t imagine what Manning must’ve been dealing with knowing his family was in danger.”

Abby looked down gloomily at her reflection in the steel table. He put his arm over her shoulder and gently pulled her into a hug.

“It’ll be okay, Abby.”

She nodded into his shoulder then faced the workstation again. “Riley kinda spooked me with some of the stuff he told us about them. Just want to get this over with so we can _all_ stop looking over our shoulders.”

McGee nodded his head and turned back to the computer.

“Well whatever is on the card, it seems to be cooperating with us without blowing up. I guess Manning wanted us to be able to use it without any trouble, unlike his computer,” McGee reasoned. He selected a dark photo from the card and enlarged it on the screen. “Looks like mostly cars and partial license plates, kinda blurry but not bad. But you’re right about the timestamps,” he pointed to the bottom right corner.

Abby frowned and flicked through a small calendar she opened on her screen. “If these stamps are accurate, these were taken almost three months ago on… a Thursday morning at 2:15 AM, just like those texts from Manning! He was following his dealer!”

“Look here,” McGee continued, “you can actually see someone next to the car. I think that’s our silver Honda from the hospital! Manning was following the dealer to find the others on his route. What do you want to bet these are the same addresses he wrote on the paper? This gives us a route to follow and find each of them.”

“Who’s that?” Abby asked and pulled up what looked like a man’s mugshot.

The man had a squared, serious face made colder by his pale complexion and shaved head. There was no name and the photo was cut off at the man’s shoulders.

“This is a mugshot. Manning’s camera didn’t take this,” she commented.

McGee stared at the image and his heart raced. “Forget who took it, do you realize who this could be? Our only lead at the hospital was a tall, bald male nurse. What if... what if he’s our killer?”

Abby tapped a few keys to look at the image’s information. “This picture originated before these other ones were taken. Why would he have a picture of his assassin on his computer before he was even marked?”

“No idea, but feed it through Facial Recognition. I’m gonna get these upstairs and show Gibbs.” McGee sent the pictures to his computer and raced to the door. Before leaving he quickly turned and reassured her, “It’s gonna be okay, Abs,” and shot out the door

Abby nervously chewed her bottom lip and watched the empty doorway for a minute. When she knew McGee wasn’t coming back, she whipped out her phone and pressed a number for speed-dial.

“Riley, Tim found a big lead and we’re both being followed. If you have a play to finish this, make it fast.”


	13. Chapter 12

NCIS

McGee toyed with the zipper of his NCIS jacket trying to adjust to the cool breeze coming in through the fleet sedan’s open window. They sat in a dark corner of a large parking lot surrounding a strip mall in Temple Hills. Primarily a residential area, Temple Hills sat just below a strip of the Capital Beltway’s outer loop but was also marked at its northern tip by large warehouses, scrap yards, and strip malls. McGee and Tony waited patiently while watching their prize, the missing silver Honda waiting at a rental dealership. When there was little traffic passing by, they could see across the highway to a warehouse where Gibbs and Ziva waited in another car. The time was just after 1 AM, and McGee kept trying to remember the possible danger they were facing to keep his adrenaline levels up. He studied the cars in the lot more closely using a telephoto lens on his camera.

“I wonder if we’re too late,” Tony mumbled.

“Doubtful,” McGee replied. “All the cars from Manning’s list are here. You sure this isn’t a money-laundering front? This honestly looks just wrong. A car rental agency whose cars are more than five years old?”

“Laundering’s not likely. They advertise themselves as a ‘low-cost car rental.’ They don’t charge enough to be suspicious and their account doesn’t show enough activity, but then again, that doesn’t mean they’re not paid under the table.” Tony tapped a few keys and pulled up the image from Manning’s memory card along with a passport photo and profile. “Ivan Nolovich, Ukranian immigrant, employment records show he’s a taxi driver but if that’s not a sketchy cover I don’t know what is.”

“We have to consider he may be the driver and not one of the delivery guys,” McGee added, then leaned his wrist towards his mouth. “Abby, anything?”

Her voice buzzed through his earpiece, _“One of the phones from Manning’s route is online, but nothing on the other three or from the driver’s phone.”_

“Ugh,” Tony moaned and tapped on the laptop in his lap nervously. “Should _not_ have loaded up on coffee. Worst part of staking out in a car is having to pee.”

McGee looked over and his lips twitched into a smile. He was too bored to pass up the opportunity. “So I guess now wouldn’t be a good time to mention my idea for a vacation near Niagara Falls? All that gushing water just showering down into the running rivers below?”

Tony pursed his lips angrily and shut his eyes in restraint, but raised both his middle fingers at McGee who satisfactorily giggled to himself. The minutes ticked by until 1:30 when McGee saw a set of lights turn around the far end of the building.

“Heads up,” he muttered and raised his camera to better view the vehicle. “Looks like a black SUV driving along the mall, let’s see where it stops.”

The SUV drove slowly until it turned down the aisle with the rental cars. McGee snapped photos of the car and its license plate when it was visible under the parking lot lights. It parked in an empty space just a few spaces away from the cars, and after a couple of minutes a portly man exited with a duffel bag. The man walked casually past the Honda and instead unlocked a different vehicle before entering and placing the bag in the passenger seat.

“Driver’s too short and, well… large to be our hitman,” McGee reported. He took a couple more pictures and examined them on the camera’s screen. “Looks like he’s taking the red Nissan.”

_“Is the tracker live?”_ Gibbs asked over the comm line.

Tony refreshed the program on the laptop when they saw the car started, and replied, “Yes, we’re getting signal now. Ziva?”

_“Got it.”_

_“Oh! Guys!”_ Abby jumped. _“Driver’s phone just booted up and so did the first, so now first and second are ready. First OMNI agent should be texting in five minutes.”_

_“Alright,”_ Gibbs responded. “ _We’re on our way to the first one. Abby, record the loop for the security cameras to cover McGee and DiNozzo. Once you guys have placed the tracker on the SUV, get over to the second site. If it’s not our guy, signal backup to pick them up and move on to the next. Remember, any one of the agents on this route could be accomplices to Manning’s murder.”_

“On it, Boss,” Tony replied and shut the laptop.

McGee kept photographing the car as it left the lot, and once it was gone Tony started the car and drove towards the empty SUV with their lights off. McGee stowed the camera in his bag and took out a small black tracking device which had an adhesive covering on one side.

“Abby?” McGee asked expectantly.

_“Loop’s running, you guys are clear.”_

Tony accelerated and drove up just behind the parked SUV. McGee crouched on his way out of the car and ducked between the parked cars. He slipped the tracker into the inside of the wheel well and pressed it on firmly. Satisfied it would stay in place, McGee quickly retreated back to the fleet sedan and Tony discretely drove them away.

“Tracker’s in place,” McGee huffed as he pulled out the laptop and confirmed the tracker’s signal. “On our way to the second position.”

McGee was starting to feel his heart beating against his bulletproof vest. He didn’t know what to expect from the OMNI agents they would find tonight and felt suddenly nervous. He breathed slowly and deeply like he usually did to calm himself, but not so loud as to let Tony notice. Taking down the average suspect was one thing, but taking down a trained killer required a little extra mental preparation. He hadn’t texted Riley since the previous morning letting him know he’d be busy, and Riley hadn’t called or texted since. McGee was partially glad for this since it allowed him to stay focused and keep the stress out of his personal life, but he also wished he could’ve at least talked to Riley about what to expect. They were crossing from Maryland into DC near Alexandria when Abby broke the radio silence.

_“First text just went out.”_

Gibbs buzzed through, _“In position.”_

McGee stared out the window as the seconds ticked by like road lines on the highway. He trusted that Gibbs could look after himself and not get injured despite being up against an assassin. But on the other hand, he still wanted to be in close enough proximity to help instead of driving somewhere else.

_“Eyes on the suspect,”_ Gibbs hummed. _“It’s not him. Alpha team, suspect is a woman, about five-seven, purple coat, walking southbound. Pick her up.”_

_“On it, sir,”_ a man’s voice replied.

McGee kept his eyes open as they approached their destination at the corner of King and Alfred. The stores lining King Street were closed, but the many streetlights kept the fronts well-lit. There were no people or moving cars to be seen in any direction, but Tony quickly found a parking space and turned off the engine.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Tony asked into the microphone. “This area’s kind of nice to be housing drug dealers.”

“Might just be the drop point,” McGee reasoned as he peered through the darkness.

_“I’m sure of it,”_ Abby chimed. _“Car’s coming your way, headed south.”_

The two agents exited the car and sprinted across the street to the front of one of the while stores, gently peering around it to see the car heading towards them. As it approached, it slowed and turned into a service entrance behind the block of buildings.

“We can’t go by that entrance, we’ll be seen,” Tony whispered.

McGee quietly slipped across the front of the building to what looked like a tall picket fence between two of the shops. He examined it closely and saw cuts in the wood that revealed the frame of a gate. It took him only a moment to find the latch, but then he quietly signaled Tony, drew his gun, and gently inched through. The gate led to a small, unlit path where the fire escapes for the upstairs apartments exited, and beyond those they were able to see an open delivery area where the red Nissan was parked.

The lighting was dim, but it was enough for them to see a taller man walk out from the shadows and around the sedan to face the driver’s side of the car. He wore dark combat pants, boots, and a dark green parka. The hood of the man’s jacket hid his full face from the agents’ view, but the bottom half of his face was illuminated by one of the car’s lights as he crossed the front. His jawline and his build fit the description of Ivan Nolovich. From their angle, they saw Nolovich pull up the sleeve exposing his right wrist. A small, violet UV light shone from the driver’s open window onto his wrist, though McGee couldn’t see the glowing tattoo from the distance. Then the driver showed his wrist to Nolovich under his UV light. A still moment passed before the driver produced a small plastic bag filled with something McGee couldn’t make out, but he could clearly see Nolovich take the bag and slip it into his coat pocket.

Tony whispered into his mic, “I think we have our man, Boss. Matches the physical description and the deal just went down.”

_“Keep your distance but don’t lose him,”_ Gibbs ordered. _“We’re on our way.”_

As the car drove away, Nolovich pocketed the bag and followed the car out the side exit. He then crossed the street and slipped down a narrow alley leading to the next block. Tony and McGee followed, keeping hidden around corners and walking with quiet footsteps. Nolovich reached the inside of the next block’s service entrance and approached the fire escape behind a tall brick building. The staircase for the fire escape was already positioned downward with its counterweights sitting on a windowsill, and as the man walked up the stairs he pulled the weights out to let the stairs raise behind him.

Tony swore under his breath and whispered to McGee, “Can’t get in that way. Go around front and make sure he doesn’t try to leave through there.”

McGee waited until Nolovich had disappeared through the window at the top floor of the building, then ducked across to the front of the block. He stayed hidden between two parked cars as he watched the front entrance to the building. His heart pounded in his chest while he waited, but he felt ready. He peeked over the car behind him and saw two unmarked fleet sedans quietly parking a short distance down, with Ziva and Gibbs rushing out from one and two backup agents coming from the other.

Gibbs used two fingers to signal two of the agents to go around back then whispered into the comm, “Tony, get up here. Backup’s here and we’re going through the front.”

_“Coming.”_

Abby’s concerned voice came through. _“Be careful.”_

McGee smiled briefly and joined Gibbs and Ziva as they approached the brick building. The first floor was devoted to a fashion boutique, but next to the display windows was a door leading to the apartments in the three stories above. Tony rounded the corner as and reached the front door first.

Tony paused as he picked the lock. “You know, for an assassin he didn’t exactly make it difficult for us to follow him.”

McGee nodded in agreement and tightened his grip on his Sig. “He’ll be waiting for us.”

Tony finished silently unlocking the door and with a quick motion the four agents swept through. The first floor had only the stairs in front of them with small landings on the floors above. They quickly and quietly climbed the stairs and reached the top where a large metal sliding door stood between them and their prey. Under the door they could see the lights were off, with no movement or noise on the other side. Gibbs reached the door first, and counted down with his fingers before pulling open the door.

Tony went through first with his gun and flashlight in hand. He began shouting, “NCIS! PUT YOUR- AGH!”

Chaos erupted when he was cut off by a loud thud by something kicking the back of his knee. Voices began shouting indiscernibly as something small and fast tackled Tony from the side. McGee shone his flashlight towards them but was blinded by the ceiling lights coming back on. The apartment was a studio with minimal furnishings, and in the middle of the living room was a bald man, identical to their suspect, gagged and bound to a chair with Nolovich kneeling behind him, his gun and something shiny outstretched towards the team. Gibbs and Ziva rushed in and were both shouting at him and another person who appeared from behind a half wall by the kitchen. McGee quickly focused back on Tony, who was spun around on the floor with one arm behind his back, someone’s suit-clad arm around his neck, and the person’s other arm keeping Tony’s arm and gun pointing at McGee. After a couple of seconds went by, McGee realized what the men in the apartment were shouting.

“Wait, wait! FBI?” he asked, still keeping his gun trained on Tony’s captor.

The blur of their suspect’s shining FBI badge came into focus, and the man grappling Tony from behind popped his head over Tony’s shoulder.

“What the- Gibbs? TIM?!”

McGee’s mouth fell open when the man’s face came into focus. “ _RILEY?_ ”

NCIS

A UV light shone over the right wrist of one of Gibbs’ backup NCIS agents. The lights were off in the apartment and there was next to no movement. Guns were still drawn, though not pointed, and tension was high as each agent was checked by Mathis. No glowing symbols or numbers appeared either of the backup agents’ wrists, and Mathis looked up at Gibbs with a satisfactory nod.

“All clear.”

One of the FBI agents switched the lights back on. McGee could once again see the rest of the studio apartment. The living room housed a sofa, coffee table, and a small TV stand, the kitchen was small and just had a two-person table with only one chair, and the bedroom had a simple white bed with a matching dresser and side table. McGee had no doubt he’d seen every piece of furniture in an IKEA catalogue. Two laptops and a cell phone were perched on the coffee table next to a large black evidence suitcase. The small bag that McGee could see contained marijuana was also cut open, and a shining new USB drive was connected to one of the laptops.

All of the agents seemed to take small sighs of relief as they each holstered their weapons. There were cameras positioned around the room recording the suspect, who was positioned on the other side of the coffee table from the sofa. Under the light could see that the man bound to the chair with duct tape and zip ties bore a closer resemblance to Ivan Nolovich than the tall agent that stood next to him. His eyes were ice cold but he had beads of sweat on him as though he was nervous. McGee, Ziva, and Tony stood just inside the apartment entrance while Gibbs and Mathis stood between them and the suspect.

Gibbs nodded to the last agent backup agent to stand down and turned to Mathis. “What are you doing here and why do you have my suspect?”

The tall agent passed Mathis and approached Gibbs. “You first. What the hell is NCIS doing here? You could’ve wrecked our whole investigation,” he growled in a deep, gravel-like voice.

Gibbs blinked, unfazed by the man. “And you are…?”

“Special Agent Eric King, Supervisory Agent. We spoke earlier this week,” the agent huffed. “Who are you?”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “Special Agent Gibbs. Guess leaving us out of the loop didn’t stall us enough, did it?”

King leered over Gibbs. “If I wanted your investigation stopped, it would’ve stopped. You just had nothing of interest to us, or so it seemed.”

Tony rubbed his knee and glared at Mathis, “Except tackling me and using me as a human shield.”

“My bad, Tony,” Mathis admitted but with a slight smile. “We thought you were OMNI when King noticed he was being followed.” Mathis smirked at McGee with a glint in his eye, but then his eyes darted to King’s face. “Sir, you still have…” he made a circular motion with his finger around his face.

Agent King grunted and reached up to his jaw. He peeled away a thick piece of flesh-colored latex, revealing a slightly more rounded jawline. He also pulled off prosthetics from his cheekbones and his nose. He then uncovered his wrist and pulled off another layer of latex makeup that had been marked with the UV-reactive ink of Nolovich’s OMNI designation. The skin underneath was slightly red and irritated, and King seemed glad to be rid of the disguise.

Seeing the other agents’ confused looks, Mathis continued, “King is my boss, but he went undercover as our suspect for the meet.”

Gibbs huffed and stepped closer to Mathis. “What the hell is going on, Riley? I won’t ask again.”

Mathis frowned and crossed his arms at Gibbs. “We retrieved some data pointing to Nolovich as an OMNI informant and a possible assassin. We figured out his route and needed to intercept his shipment for our next lead.”

Gibbs flashed his disbelieving smile and shook his head. “Another thing you _couldn’t_ tell us?”

Mathis scowled angrily but guiltily. McGee could see clear conflict on his face and grew concerned.

King stood with a firm stare at Gibbs. “How did you even find out about him?”

McGee’s eyes went to Mathis first, but then went to King as he stepped forward. “He’s part of the same drug distribution route as our dead marine, Manning. He’s also the primary suspect in his murder.”

Mathis averted his eyes from McGee’s gaze and barely reacted to McGee’s statement. “The _big lead_ ,” he whispered to himself under his breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “How did you find him? More data from the hard drive?”

McGee opened his mouth to answer but Gibbs cut him off.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s coming with us. We have reason to believe OMNI’s onto our investigation and following us, so we need all information possible out of him.”

“No,” King countered pointedly. “So you lost a marine? Boo-hoo. This sack of shit is responsible for a lot more than that, and he’s the key to hitting OMNI and stopping more deaths. Until I have an address where OMNI’s shipments are coming from, he’s staying with me. We’re tracking the delivery boy’s car and waiting for him to lead us back.”

“It won’t work,” Tony added smoothly, walking slowly towards the agents with Ziva in tow. “Car he used is a rental and he’s taking it back to the dealership to get his own car back, which we and only we are tracking. They’ll go back to the warehouse and we’ll get a location.”

Mathis eyed him suspiciously and looked to Gibbs for confirmation, who gave a slight nod. He then groaned and hung his head. “It’s no use, King, you’ve never dealt with smug hard-asses like Gibbs and his crew. I swear it’s like dealing with my ex-wife all over again whenever you’re around, Gibbs.”

McGee stood dumbstruck at Mathis’ words and was frozen in place. He and Ziva exchanged amazed looks before ultimately staring back at Mathis. McGee never heard anyone insult Gibbs, much less imagine Mathis would. Mathis also never mentioned he had been married, only that he had relationships with men that didn’t last long. Gibbs stared intently at Mathis while King looked with confusion between the two of them. Tony however grew a smile four sizes too large for his face, and with his hands in his pockets he strutted backwards to watch from against a wall.

“You win, Gibbs,” Mathis conceded. “We’ll pack up Nolovich and give him to you if you give us the tracking data.”

Gibbs continued with a sly smile, “No, I think you can handle him and we’ll handle the OMNI hideout.”

Mathis’ mouth dropped open in disgust. “Like hell! If you know where OMNI is then I’m going with you. And if OMNI’s following you, which you could’ve told me,” he spat bitterly, “then he’ll be a good bargaining chip for you.”

King snapped, “Mathis, stand down.”

Mathis quickly shot King a silencing look.

“Him?” Gibbs pointed to Nolovich. “You catch ‘em, you keep ‘em.”

“Just because he’s mine doesn’t mean I want him!” Mathis protested. “Besides, you need to question him or you won’t have your killer.” He walked over to Nolovich and quickly ripped the duct tape off of his mouth. “There.”

The man grunted in pain, then in his hoarse Ukrainian voice he spat, “Asshole.”

Gibbs shook his head, still holding a small but condescending smile. “Typical Riley. Did you even think through what you were gonna do with him? You told me yourself every OMNI agent in FBI custody has been killed.”

“Oh, because you’re barging in here just _full_ of helpful suggestions?” Mathis jabbed spitefully. “What am I supposed to do? Leave him here? Turn him loose? OMNI would literally skin him alive once they found out he was compromised.”

A small flicker of panic lit in Nolovich’s eyes. McGee noticed as he looked between Mathis, Gibbs, and him. Slowly he started to figure out what was happening.

Nolovich trembled slightly in his seat. “Wait,” he mumbled.

“I don’t need him,” Gibbs resumed, ignoring Nolovich completely. “You just want to pass your headache onto me since we have what you want. He’s a trained killer; he wouldn’t confess to killing Manning. He’d just try to escape and I’d have to shoot him.”

Mathis scoffed. “You think _you’ve_ got a headache from this? Did _you_ have to read the reports of the last guys we caught? One of them swallowed a cyanide pill, burning him slowly from the inside out. The others were kidnapped by OMNI infiltrators, had the bones in their hands broken one-by-one, then branded with the OMNI symbol, then electrocuted slowly until they died!”

Nolovich turned a slight shade of green and his eyes widened.

“Mathis, I’m warning you,” King glared.

Mathis continued with obvious disregard, “I’m not wasting my time on a guy who’s just gonna die anyway, and I’m not putting my team in danger by taking him with us. I’m leaving him here!” He swiped up a black cloth bag from one of the cases and roughly stuffed Nolovich’s head inside.

“Fine!” Gibbs yelled while gesturing his hand upward in frustration. “Not my problem. I can’t do anything unless he’s tied to our murder. Everyone, out!” He turned on his foot and signaled his agents towards the exit.

McGee didn’t know what to believe of that spectacle, but he followed orders and slowly started walking towards the studio door.

“Fine!” Mathis called. “Useless! Let’s go, guys. We’re out of here.”

“Wait! I did it!” Nolovich called eagerly.

“Oh, shut up,” Mathis grunted exhaustedly as he opened the suitcase and pulled out a small bottle and rag. “You don’t even know what happened.”

“The man in the hospital,” Nolovich panted, his English breaking slightly in his nervousness. “He was killed with drugs overdose.”

Gibbs stopped in his tracks and turned on his heel. The others were halfway out the door but also turned around to listen. Gibbs slowly strolled back towards the room. Mathis smirked at King who grumbled and shook his head in understanding, and then he pulled the cover off the assassin. Mathis sat down at the edge of the coffee table eyes-level Nolovich while Gibbs and King stood next to him.

Tony snickered and whispered to McGee and Ziva, “Gibbs made it ten steps away. I guess four years made them rusty at getting people to confess.”

Gibbs began, “You killed him, and you had help.”

Nolovich nodded, still panicked but no tears or remorse showed in his eyes. “I tell you everything if you let me go.”

King stared at him in tired disbelief. “You confess to murder but want us to let you go?”

“I have chance on my own,” he explained. “I kill that man, yes, but I’m not professional. Overdose, car accident, those are easy kills. I was driver for the people on this route, and I help clean up their messes, so I know too much. I tell you who gives orders and where to find, anything you want to know, then you let me go. I know I die if arrested, and I die if stuck here. Please, let me go.”

Gibbs huffed suspiciously. “Depends on what you tell us. Talk.”

“I had no choice,” Nolovich continued. “He told me the man was found out, and he was on my route so I had to kill him or be found out too. I picked up the woman with the computer and she got me through the hospital without video.”

“What woman?” Mathis asked calmly.

“I don’t know. She’s on the route, we were both contacted.”

“We’re picking up everyone on your route,” Gibbs added, “so you can help us pick her out later.”

Riley smiled and whispered, “Nice,” before resuming. “Who gave you orders to kill Manning?”

“His name Marquez. He deals drugs and weapons to make money for OMNI, works with gangs and businesses. He speaks direct to OMNI big boys, they give him orders, he gives me orders.”

“Where?” Gibbs pressed.

“I’m not sure, I think some warehouse by docks. I was only there once when getting OMNI tattoo. They have guards, drug makers, and guns.”

Mathis leaned forward. “Were there computers there?”

“I don’t know. It was almost a year ago, it was dark.”

Gibbs stood behind Nolovich and leaned down near his ear. “What do they have on you that would make me believe you?”

“They fucked me,” he replied flatly. “Frame me back in Ukraine for something I didn’t do. Then they pay me a lot of money but they won’t fix what they did. If I get sent back I get beaten to death by corrupt cops.”

Mathis stood up and walked to the nearby window with Gibbs and King. “We’ll have to move tonight, sooner the better,” he murmured.

“Agreed,” King whispered. “I’m not losing this chance of raiding a major OMNI site. Question is what to do with him. Mathis, for that interrogation stunt I ought to stick you with babysitting.”

Mathis ground his teeth. “Come on. It caught him off-guard and it worked, right Gibbs?”

“The old tricks do,” Gibbs agreed and looked to King. “Do you believe Nolovich? And is what Mathis said about FBI custody true?”

King sighed and nodded. “Yeah. We’ve had too many deaths under this operation and it needs to end now. We took Nolovich down too easily for him to really be a trained assassin. It shouldn’t be too much work holding him, but I want him alive and talking as long as possible.”

Gibbs suggested quietly, “I’ll take him into protective custody, off-books, people I trust. If what Mathis said about FBI custody is true, NCIS will be the only way to keep him alive. Mathis, what did you find on his computer? Next target?”

Mathis shook his head. “Orders just to lay low, too much attention nearby. He’s got a bag drop waiting with money for the hit and a plane ticket to Miami for tomorrow. It’s not worth sending King undercover again.”

Gibbs nodded. “So when he doesn’t show up, they’ll know we’re too close and they’ll run, which means we have to move now. You take DiNozzo and Ziva, set up a strike team when you have the coordinates of the warehouse. Wait for us there.”

“Just like old times, _Boss_ ,” Mathis grinned and went to work.

NCIS

McGee always hated loading his gun when it was cold outside. Even though his gun had been holstered on his hip, it always seemed to feel extra frigid after the slightest contact with cold air. He felt the lack of sleep tugging at him, and tried not to remind himself that it was 4 AM. He stood next to Ziva behind the open trunk of the fleet sedan loading magazines for his Sig Sauer P228 and his M4 Carbine. The sedan was parked on the far end of a small cluster of various FBI and NCIS vans. The air was filled with anticipation as people bustled between areas in preparation for the raid on the warehouse, which was about a mile down the road from their position. They had only been set up for a few minutes with the expectation of leaving shortly after. The vehicles’ headlights helped illuminate the cluster, however the moonlight overhead rendered them almost unnecessary. McGee could see over the trunk to where Mathis and King were coordinating with Gibbs and Tony. Mathis would occasionally lock eyes with McGee from a distance and wink.

Ziva smiled as she caught McGee smiling back at the other man. “It seems as though you and Agent Mathis are no longer at odds.”

McGee remembered Tony saying she couldn’t directly ask about Riley, and toying with her would mean a distraction from the cold. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Come on, McGee,” she chuckled. “I see the way you smiled at him just now. I don’t think you were ever that upset with him.”

“I wasn’t smiling at _him,_ Ziva,” McGee deflected, doing his best to keep a straight face. “I saw a cup of coffee and wished I had one. It’s late, or early, whatever.”

Ziva raised an unconvinced eyebrow. “Well I suppose I should go over and punch him in the gut for being an ass to you in Abby’s lab. We must stick up for our teammates.”

A lump rose in McGee’s throat but he hid it by looking down into the trunk of the sedan. He pondered it for a moment in fear of the outcome. “Uh… Well, I guess, sure?”

Ziva was taken aback and narrowed her eyes impatiently, but then hummed affirmatively and slowly drifted around the car with an ear listening for McGee’s cracking defenses. McGee stayed silent as she kept walking slowly in a straight line for Mathis. He knew she was calling his bluff without breaking her agreement with Tony. He knew Ziva would go as far as she needed to win, and when she was halfway to Mathis he knew he only had one option.

“Okay!” he called to her.

She paused in her tracks and looked back towards him, eyes perked in pending excitement. He pressed his lips together in frustration, and when he jolted his head to the side to beckon her over she squeaked with joy and sprinted to him.

He grunted, “You’re a terrible person.”

“I am not,” she defended and lifted a finger. “I am simply good at getting to the bottom of things. So are you and Mister Mathis together, or are you just friends?”

He took a moment before answering, not to consider lying, but to determine how to spin this to his advantage. “You can’t tell Tony.”

“Absolutely not!” she agreed.

“No, I mean you _cannot_ tell Tony, Ziva,” McGee reiterated. “Not even hints or smiles.”

“Hey, I am _very good_ at keeping secrets, Timothy,” she retorted.

He sighed in defeat, though he was actually feeling glad to be telling Ziva and having it be more in the open. “Fine, yes, we’re together. We set up Abby’s lab as a prank for you and Tony when you fell for the whole sad act after our first date.”

Ziva giggled and sat on the lip of the car’s trunk. “Ah-ha! So you heard me and Tony, and you were trying to play me because you knew I couldn’t ask about you two.”

“And you still broke the rules by coercing the truth out of me,” he reminded her.

“Oh, barely,” she chided with a smile. “I was never going to hit him, but I would’ve kept you on edge as long as I needed. Besides, I could tell from that night you met in the office that you liked him. You’re a terrible liar, McGee.”

“I know, I know,” he huffed.

“But this is good. He’s smart, charming,” she probed on. “He’s also available, which if I’m right is a change from your last love?”

McGee flashed her a warning look. He wouldn’t dare reveal his feelings for Gibbs, especially not now. The last thing he needed was to bring up conflicting emotions right before shots were going to be fired.

Ziva sensed she crossed a line and grimaced apologetically. “Sorry, too far. But tell me about Riley.”

McGee did want to talk about him, but there wasn’t much time left before the squads would move out. He nudged her out of the way and closed the trunk. “Later, Ziva, we’ve got a big job ahead of us.”

She turned to leave, but quickly reminded him “We _will_ talk about it later,” before walking confidently away.

He triple-checked his sidearm, rifle, and ammunition as per his usual routine, then taking it all he closed the trunk and followed Ziva to the cluster. Gibbs’ team of four was joined by squad of ten agents he requisitioned, and with Mathis’ team and extra units the entire headcount of the operation totaled just over thirty. They all circled the center of the cluster where a man in FBI tactical gear stood at a table with a large screen connected to a laptop. He started cycling through the pictures and addressed the group.

“What we’re looking at is a freight shipping warehouse. The structure is four stories high, likely hollow, but with offices on the first and fourth floors and catwalks across the ceiling. The front of the warehouse is closed, but according to blueprints should be able to be opened via a large door. The main access door is on the west side of the building and appears to be guarded. There appear to be several groups of people huddled around fires outside of the structure, but we have to assume they’re heavily armed. Also assume there will be resistance inside with guards also across the catwalks, so be sure to watch up above. Be prepared for hostages and arrest whoever you can, but do not hesitate to shoot.

“Data from utility companies shows an increase in power and internet consumption, meaning there may be some computer equipment in there. Watch your fire as we need as much of the data intact as possible. Our primary target during the raid is this man, Marquez.”

He pulled up a mugshot of a thin man with a shaved head and tattoos reaching from under his jumpsuit up over his head.

“DEA has busted him before, and intel indicates he’s a major player in the OMNI operations in this area. Bring him back alive. Based on his history, the warehouse may be also manufacturing drugs, so steer clear of smoke grenades or any kind of explosives that could trigger a chain reaction. Trauma teams are standing by.”

Gibbs quickly asked, “Weapons?”

“From what we’ve seen, the two guards at the door have submachine guns, but we didn’t see what the other ground forces have. We estimate twenty to thirty guards total,” the agent replied. “Any other questions?” He paused and waited, but when no one else replied he slapped the laptop screen down and shouted, “Move out!”

McGee took a deep breath and walked silently with Tony, Ziva, and Gibbs back to their sedan. Before getting into the back seat, he watched as Mathis turned to look back at him. The shuffling of footsteps and vehicle doors in the cluster faded away as their eyes met. Mathis’ focused face was only contorted at the corners of his mouth where a smile was gently offered to McGee. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead he winked and stepped up onto the back of SUV as it slowly began to drive away. McGee became aware of the other three agents waiting for him in the sedan and quickly slid inside.

The drive to the warehouse was silent as each agent was in their own state of mental preparation. Tony held both his and Gibbs’ carbine rifles facing towards the ceiling, while Ziva checked two of the Sigs she had primarily ready. McGee checked the straps on his vest and holsters, then looked back out the window. He focused on things he could see, hear, and touch, anything to get his focus on the moment instead of his feelings. The radio chatter had slowly begun, giving a play-by-play of observations from the lookout teams. There was a rhythmic hum of the nearby engines as the convoy rolled quietly but quickly down the road leading to the entrance. Then the first shot split the air.

_“Shots fired! Shots fired!”_ a voice reported urgently.

Mathis’ familiar voice buzzed through, _“Going weapons hot.”_

Gibbs slammed on the breaks and parked the car, and they rushed to join the other agents engaging the guards. Flood lights at the front of the warehouse lit up the lot and clashed against the red and blue strobe lights of the oncoming vehicles. The front lot of the warehouse was dotted with trucks, shipping crates, and emptied metal drums, and the dozen gang members guarding the front used them as cover while firing shots from pistols and submachine guns. A group of agents quickly broke off to the side and sprinted for cover while blocking another exit.

McGee stayed huddled with his team and advanced on the entrance. The smell of spent gunpowder and hot brass filled his nostrils as he passed the SUV on which Mathis and another agent were perched, each firing sniper shots steadily into the lot. He watched as Mathis rapidly fired off several shots and picked off a small row of guards that were trying to duck behind a concrete barrier. Mathis’s hands were a blur as he loaded a new magazine into his rifle and continued with absolute focus. McGee was glad to have him on his side.

Gibbs took the lead and picked off a guard kneeling just out of cover from behind an orange shipping container. He signaled them to follow, and they ran up to the shipping container with gravel crunching under their feet as they went. A rattle of rapid-fire shots sent bullets thudding down behind them as the team quickly flattened themselves against the container. A few more shots ricocheted sharply off the metal. Gibbs signaled them to go around, and Ziva was the closest to the far corner. She peeked around and quickly put down an unaware guard, but was held back by more shots just narrowly missing her on the other side.

_“Gibbs,”_ Mathis’ chirped into the comms. _“You’ve got three coming your way, but I don’t have a shot.”_

“We’re pinned down by automatic fire from inside,” Gibbs yelled over the shots.

_“Standby.”_

McGee looked back and saw Mathis fire two quick shots towards the top floor of the building, shattering a window and taking out a guard with a heavy machine gun.

A moment later he replied, _“You’re clear. Targets, two left, one right.”_

Ziva tapped McGee and whispered, “You stay up and take left, I’ll kneel and take right.”

He nodded, and they whipped around the left corner. As planned, Ziva knelt and quickly dropped her target with a single shot with her pistol while McGee used three shots with his rifle to ensure results. Gibbs also rounded the right corner spending two shots on his prey.

The gunfire subsided as the outside guards appeared to have been dealt with. One had laid down his weapon and surrendered, and was promptly tackled to the ground and cuffed. Radio chatter continued as the squad ahead of the NCIS team broke through the steel side entrance.

“Alpha breaching front entry,” a man in the group ahead of them reported into the comms.

_“Roger Alpha. Rear entry secured, Bravo going in,”_ another voice replied.

Mathis also chimed in, _“Delta team advancing. Charlie, hang back and keep eyes for reinforcements.”_

The side entrance opened up to the greater interior of the warehouse. In the center parked in front of the main door were two black SUVs and a box truck. Behind them were rows of tables where various illegal drugs were being weighed and packaged for distribution and guns were having their serial numbers burned off with acid. The workers had all taken cover underneath the tables, waiting for the shooting to be over. Towards the back were wooden pallets with black equipment crates stacked on top. On both walls were metal grated catwalks with stairs leading up to each floor and three catwalks across the top. On the fourth floor was an office that stretched across the back wall with windows that gave a view of the warehouse floor.

Gunfire inside the warehouse echoed and made it more difficult to determine its origins. Two guards on the floor opened fire but were quickly taken down by Alpha squad in front of Gibbs’ team. McGee remembered to look up to the catwalks where he saw another man firing down at them. McGee fired three missed shots before getting in cover behind an SUV. Gibbs aimed up at the same target and hit him with two shots. Tony busied himself running across the wall on the front side of the building and hitting a large button that started the two-story front door sliding open. Ziva ducked between two rows of tables and delivered a knock-out kick to the head of a guard crouched there. More squads of FBI agents poured in through the main door as it opened and they started pushing their way upstairs. Gibbs signaled his team to converge.

“DiNozzo, take Ziva up to the third floor and clear out what you can. McGee and I will head to the office on the fourth.”

The agents nodded and followed a group up the stairs to the left of the main entrance. Tony and Ziva split off at the third floor while Gibbs and McGee proceeded further up. Their footsteps landed with hollow clangs as they went, though with the din of shouting voices echoing from below they didn’t bother hiding their presence. The office looked like a gray shoe box perched on the top floor with doors on both of the narrow sides. Gibbs led as they approached the office, and they spotted a dead guard next to the door having already been shot by fire from the ground. Gibbs didn’t wait to listen for voices and instead kicked hard into the door, splintering the frame and banging the door open.

“NCIS! Hands where I can see ‘em!” he yelled.

Inside the office was a thin, heavily tattooed man with a shaved head and a black fur coat leaning over a desk typing quickly on a computer. Gibbs and McGee both recognized him as Marquez, the gang leader Nolovich and the recon team had warned them about. Marquez slowly lifted his hands from the keyboard and raised them, though looked threateningly at them both. As they entered, McGee noticed four server racks already running with two more that looked like they were incomplete, while parts and wires were scattered on the floor still in their packaging. There was a long desk with several computers that spanned the width of the office just under the windows, and on the back wall next to the servers were several guns hanging at the ready. McGee kept his weapon trained on the man in the fur coat as Gibbs lowered his gun and took out his handcuffs.

Then a dark, muscular man leapt out from behind one of the servers and crashed into McGee, knocking his rifle out of his hands. Marquez then jabbed Gibbs in the stomach and slammed his head against the wall. McGee struggled against his attacker but easily outmatched by the man’s strength. He was pressed against the desk and felt the cold steel of a pistol jabbing into the back of his head.

“Marquez, go!” The man shouted.

Marquez whipped around and disappeared through the door on the opposite side of the office. Gibbs groaned and pulled out his pistol, searching for McGee through his blurred vision.

“Drop it, or he dies,” Marquez’s guard instructed while pulling McGee to a standing position between him and Gibbs.

McGee searched his surroundings in the hope of finding something to disarm the man. He also kept close attention on the pressure of the guard’s hand on McGee’s bulletproof vest, waiting for an indication of him being distracted as a good way to get out of his grip.

“There’s no way out,” Gibbs reasoned. “We’ve blocked the entrances.”

The guard nodded to McGee and started walking backwards. “He’s my way out. Anyone comes near me, and he’s gone.”

Gibbs’s gun never wavered and he continued slowly walking towards them. But the man increased his pace backing McGee out of the office and down the walkway with the gun still pointed at Gibbs. McGee didn’t have reason to look down through the grated walkways when there were potential targets in front of him, but now that he was observing every detail of his environment he could clearly see through the catwalk and over the railing to the warehouse floor. He started to become disoriented and nearly tripped over himself walking backwards, but the man’s grip on him only increased. He stared with terror back at Gibbs more for the issue of heights than the gun to his head. When Gibbs stared back, McGee thought he saw genuine fear that he had never seen from Gibbs before. Then Gibbs’ eyes shifted to something behind them.

“Hey!” Tony’s voice echoed.

The man spun around with his gun hand and fired a shot that missed Tony by inches. Tony fired back and grazed the man’s shoulder. McGee quickly took advantage of the distraction and dropped to the floor, then used a sweeping kick to knock the man off his feet. The man fell with a heavy clatter, and as he bounced off the catwalk his body rolled through the gap between the catwalk and the handrail. The guard latched onto McGee to save himself, but his weight dragged both himself and McGee over the edge.


	14. Chapter 13

NCIS

McGee’s vision seemed to spin and his head was surfing from looking at the open space below him. A pair of hands tightly held his while others struggled to pull him up painfully by his arms, but he was in too much shock to let them even budge his flesh. He wasn’t aware that he wasn’t breathing. He didn’t hear Mathis’ yell from the ground floor when he saw McGee hanging from the catwalk. He didn’t notice the stretching pain in his arms and legs from unexpectedly supporting his attacker’s weight as the guard held on tight to McGee’s legs. He wasn’t aware of anything other than the petrifying fear of the ground that loomed seemingly miles below him. Fear shot through him looking at the floor that seemed to be zooming towards him while he hung suspended from the catwalk. The resonating bang of two shots from the warehouse entrance seemed muffled to him as the pair of bullets from Mathis’ rifle sliced through the guard’s chest. The man’s grip on McGee’s leg seemed to release in slow motion and he fell with an echoing crash onto a table of cocaine, spraying out a cloud of white dust in around his dead body.

McGee was still barely breathing but finally managed to look up at Gibbs, who was tugging at him to try to pull him up. McGee grabbed onto Gibbs and was able to be slowly hoisted up by him and Tony. Seeing an opportunity to get back up, he swung both of his legs back up onto the platform and stayed kneeling shakily, gripping Gibbs tightly for support. McGee’s eyes were slammed shut as he heaved deeply, but in his chest a small butterfly fluttered in his chest with the familiar warmth of Gibbs’ touch.

“I’ve got you, Tim,” the deep voice whispered.

The sound of McGee’s heartbeat in his ears drowned out Gibbs’ orders to Tony and Ziva, who then sprinted down the catwalk towards the office. Gibbs stayed crouched with McGee as McGee clung to the older man’s jacket. McGee’s head still swam through vertigo and his breathing was shallow and uneven as the flashes of near-death played through his mind.

“Breathe, Tim,” Gibbs instructed calmly.

A hand gently cupped the back of McGee’s head, gently weaving into his hair, and the other hand gently massaged McGee’s shoulder. The warmth seemed to spread from Gibbs’ hands all through McGee’s body. McGee leaned himself into Gibbs’ chest, melting into him as their breathing and heartbeats steadied.

Gibbs sighed in relief and whispered, “Don’t scare me like that again.”

McGee smiled into Gibbs’ chest and blurted out “Sorry.”

The hand on the back of McGee’s head quickly raised and smacked him the way only Gibbs could smack another human being, then settled on his other shoulder. McGee scrunched his face and leaned back from Gibbs’ chest to sitting upright.

“ _Rule Six_?” McGee groaned, peeking through his squinted eyes up to Gibbs.

Gibbs smiled and chuckled. Seeing the sincere relief on Gibbs’ face relaxed McGee entirely, and he gazed into the man’s eyes for a moment. Through the clouds in his mind, he could at least process the feeling of comfort and safety in the other man’s arms, and it showed on his face. In that moment Gibbs’ smile faded and what almost looked like guilt crossed his face before he stood up and pulled away. McGee grew concerned at the change in attitude but before he could say anything his earpiece crackled to life.

_“Navy Alpha, it’s DiNozzo. We’ve got no sight of Marquez. He might’ve escaped on a motorcycle based on the tracks we found.”_

Gibbs huffed and raised his wrist microphone to his mouth. “How? The exits were supposed to be blocked.”

McGee stood up using the handrails and focused on Gibbs, taking extra care not to look down through the grating in the catwalk.

_“Not sure,”_ Tony continued. _“However he did it, he’ll be long gone by now.”_

McGee felt pinpricks of guilt as the sequence of events ran through his mind. _‘If I hadn’t let myself get captured, we’d have the gang leader and probably OMNI,’_ he thought to himself. He could feel the muscles in his arms and legs tightening with soreness from supporting the guard’s weight.

Gibbs looked around then radioed back, “Alright, get back here. We’ll secure the office.”

_“10-4, Boss.”_

Gibbs nodded to McGee and they both drew their weapons. They made their way down the catwalk towards the warehouse office, but this time checked every crevice to make sure no one was there. McGee tried to focus on the job, but echoes of Gibbs’ touch and the various looks in Gibbs’ eyes provided slight distraction through his still-clouded head. The commotion of voices on the lower floors could still be heard, but no more gunfire was being exchanged. The office was silent but for the hum of fans and hard drives in the server racks. McGee began examining Marquez’ computer, but was faced with the OMNI lock screen and didn’t want to risk triggering a self-destruct. Wires ran from the desk computer to the server racks behind him, and after tracing the wires to their ends he started closely examining the insides of the racks.

_“Mathis to Navy Alpha,”_ the radio chirped, _“Gibbs, looks like we’re mostly secure down here. We’re going to begin moving vehicles in to clean up the mess. What’s your 20?”_

“We’ve secured the office,” Gibbs replied.

_“Coming your way,”_ Mathis continued. _“What do you guys have up there?”_

McGee quickly looked around and answered into his own mic, “Uh, four server stacks connected to a desktop with two more stacks half-built. Desktop has OMNI software on it. Checking for explosives now.”

_“Quick, disconnect it from the power before OMNI can wipe any data or send an overload,”_ Mathis ordered.

McGee whipped around the back of the racks and began pulling out every power cable he could find. Gibbs knew better than to enter the sea of cables drooping from the back of the servers, but he pulled every power plug he could find from power outlets around the room. As McGee studied the devices in the racks and the scattered component boxes, the stress of the recent near-death experience became overshadowed by the glow of technological lust. His smile grew as he opened panels and examined the units. Footsteps grew louder on the metal catwalks outside, then Gibbs and McGee looked over to see Tony and Ziva rounding the corner through the left office door while King and Mathis entered through the right door opposite to them.

Mathis’ eyes immediately locked onto McGee for a quick visual assessment and then he gave a quiet but relieved sigh. “You know McGee, you’re really one-upping the Bureau by finding the biggest dude in the warehouse and throwing him off a walkway.”

McGee smiled, but an unpleasant chord was struck somewhere inside him. He was too focused on the job to fully understand his compartmentalized feelings, but he found himself feeling uncomfortable in the same room with Gibbs and Mathis. He shifted his eyes to avoid Mathis’ gaze.

“That’s my Probie,” Tony called, mistaking McGee’s flushed face for embarrassment.

McGee recognized Tony’s wind-up for an insult and rolled his eyes waiting for the inevitable punch-line.

Tony continued, “’Course he was also my Probie dangling over the edge, getting stretched like a _Laffy Taffy_. But at least he had the upper-body strength to support Hulk Hogan back there.”

Mathis rolled his eyes and tread lightly through the office, examining the server racks and their parts. “Damn, look at this stuff.”

McGee nodded in agreement and mumbled, “Yeah. Got to be at least 100 terabytes, and who knows what for processing power. There’s not much here, but they got the good stuff.”

“Mmm,” Mathis hummed and he eyed the racks like they were prey. “What do you want to bet they’ve got four- and eight-core Xeon processors in these babies?”

“Oh I’d kill to have those at work,” McGee groaned.

Tony groaned. “Oh god, they’re speaking _Geek Greek._ ”

King sighed tiredly and stepped forward. “Alright, enough chit-chat, Mathis. What’ll it take to get these back to HQ?”

Mathis looked around and furrowed his brow in thought. “To be honest, looking at it I expected more stuff. I mean, if this is the main OMNI hub… What do you think, Tim?”

McGee avoided looking at Mathis by closely examining the equipment still sealed in various boxes on the floor around the office, then took a closer look at the server racks themselves. “Some of these units have been here for a while, but it looks like a good portion is new. You did say they were expanding their platform, but this isn’t all that much.”

“Just get it disassembled and packaged for transport, Mathis,” King ordered. “Cyber Crimes will dissect it all and tell us what we need to know.”

McGee frowned and turned to Gibbs. “Shouldn’t we assist? We’ve gotten through the OMNI coding-”

King interrupted him with a rather firm tone. “No. You were here to follow a drug lead, we’re here for this.”

Mathis exchanged uneasy looks with Gibbs, but then looked back to King. “Boss, can you get someone to bring a van for this stuff? There’s a lot here, and this is too important to get lost in comm chatter. We have to check it for explosives it before we can disassemble anyway.”

“Fine, but make sure it all comes with us,” King murmured and disappeared out the other door.

McGee quietly exhaled and looked worriedly at Mathis, avoiding his eyes but not sure what else to do.

Gibbs stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “What’s got him pissed off?”

Mathis replied, “Probably me. It’s 5 AM and we’ve just uncovered more work to do that he wants to shrug off on anyone but our team.”

“Except us,” Tony added smartly.

Mathis chuckled but his smile was short-lived. Gibbs was unconvinced and a brief glance from Mathis only served to worsen the feeling in his gut. He then saw McGee’s attempts to avoid looking at Mathis, and addressed the other agents.

“Tony, Ziva, find the night shift agents and brief them on our path through the building so they can collect evidence. McGee, stay here and help Mathis disassemble the servers. Meet at the car when you’re done.”

“Uh-” McGee stammered, “I-I thought Agent King said..?”

Gibbs gave a re-affirming look and nodded at Mathis. “What, and make him do it all himself?”

McGee looked at Mathis, again avoiding eye contact but looking for confirmation.

Mathis shrugged. “Hey, it’d sure help me.”

McGee looked back at Gibbs, who simply turned away with Tony and Ziva and headed down the catwalk. Tony and Ziva exchanged curious looks knowing their prey would be in the same room alone together, but didn’t say anything under Gibbs’ watchful eye.

McGee closed the racks and returned their components to their original positions, still avoiding looking at Mathis. The air was silent and still between them except for echoes of FBI agents on the ground arresting the warehouse workers and grouping them into vans.

Mathis quietly broke the silence. “Are you okay?”

The question took McGee off-guard, and he finally turned around. “Huh?”

Mathis nodded back to the outside.

McGee then realized what he meant and kept his eyes on the windows. “Oh, yeah. You?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Mathis sighed, slowly moving closer to McGee. “Are you sure nothing’s wrong? I haven’t seen you in a few days and you’ve hardly looked at me.”

McGee tried to keep the near-death experience and the equipment in front of them still at the forefront of his thoughts so he wouldn’t think about what was really troubling him. But then the needing look in Mathis’ deep blue eyes drew his gaze in and his defenses slowly cracked.

Riley stepped closer and pulled Tim down by his vest into a deep kiss. Tim slowly lowered his defenses just enough to enjoy the kiss, which seemed to be the right thing to do even though it started his head spinning again. Riley kissed him hungrily, and Tim quickly found himself pulling Riley closer. Their tongues danced slowly as they drank in the moment with each other, then Riley hummed happily and released him.

Riley sighed, his eyes looking tired and worried. “You really… well… you really know how to scare a guy half to death, that’s for sure. Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s all kinda a blur for me. I’m not really sure what I’m feeling right now,” Tim confessed. “I hate heights.”

Riley softly took hooked a gloved finger under Tim’s chin and quickly pressed their lips together, stealing another small kiss while they had a moment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that. I’m deathly afraid of spiders and most insects that fly.”

A smile twitched up Tim’s lips, but he just nodded. His feelings were starting to arrange themselves in conflicting positions between what happened with Gibbs and being in Riley’s arms now. It was more than he could take, and the stress gave him a headache on top of the actual pain starting to burn in his limbs. He knew he wanted to spend time with Riley, but couldn’t process his feelings about it. Riley could sense Tim’s discomfort and slowly released him.

“You should go home and get some rest. I can handle these,” he suggested.

Tim felt bad about not helping and asked, “Are you sure? I can still help, servers are nothing.”

“No, no,” Riley reassured him, “It’s okay. Besides, King will probably be back any minute so it’s not like we’ll get much done before he kicks you out anyway. I’ll call you later to check up, okay?”

Tim looked back into Riley’s eyes. The concern was clear, which twisted Tim’s stomach tighter.

He simply nodded and muttered, “Thanks. See you,” before sauntering out the door, leaving Riley worried and alone in the warehouse office.

As he walked to the car Tim barely looked at the others, especially Gibbs. He felt horrible for letting Riley kiss him when he enjoyed being in Gibbs’ arms as much as he did. He sat in silent self-loathing in the car and didn’t say a word on the ride back to NCIS.

NCIS

Abby paced the lab worriedly. She was overjoyed that the team made it back unscathed, except for McGee nearly dying, but he was safe now so it was okay. Her problem now was a set of large white evidence crates filled with bags of drugs and stacks of money waiting to be analyzed and tied to Corporal Manning’s murder. She would’ve started almost an hour ago even though Gibbs told her to go home, but she couldn’t do either.

Her left hand was currently clamped tightly down over the cuff on her right wrist, and her pigtails were loose from absentminded twirling and pulling. She knew that if her historic affiliation with OMNI was ever uncovered, all the evidence she examined and signed off would be called into question. It was easy enough getting McGee to sign off on the computer components they worked on, and even easier getting him to do most if not all of the work without him noticing. But she still hadn’t touched Manning’s money and needed to match any prints on it to the ones found at the warehouse. She knew there was no way she could get him to do that too without arousing suspicion.

Her pacing quickened until she finally clenched her fists and yelled in frustration. There was only one way she could get around this, and it made her extremely anxious. So she took a few deep breaths, then walked quickly to the elevator. She peered around the walls near the bullpen to make sure Gibbs and the rest of the team had gone, and then she continued swiftly around and up the stairs to the Director’s office. When she reached the secretary’s desk outside the office, Cynthia noted how jittery she looked and let her through.

Director Shepard sat comfortably at her desk, reading the report of the night’s raid while sipping her morning coffee. “Abby, good morning. I thought Gibbs let you go home to get some sleep.”

Abby’s fists were still anxiously clenched and held closely in front of her. She kept looking around, unsure if she should sit or even look at the Director.

Shepard noticed her odd behavior and continued, “Sit, Abby. Take a breath and _slowly_ tell me what the problem is.”

Abby half-smiled with relief, glad to know Shepard understood her at least a little. She sat and breathed as instructed, then finally looked up at the Director. “I need a favor. A big one.”

Shepard nodded, still slightly amused at Abby’s quirkiness.

“I… I need you to assign one of the other forensic analysts to process the evidence in my lab,” she finally blurted out.

Shepard chuckled lightly. “Abby, it’s okay if you leave it until you get back. You need sleep too. It can wait.”

Abby grimaced. “No. I mean, yes, I do need sleep, I’ve been up for almost 30 hours straight, and I’m barely able to hold my own head up, but… that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what is?” Shepard prodded, starting to lose her amusement and gaining a hint of worry. “If it’s about this group, OMNI, you don’t have to worry about them following you and Agent McGee anymore. We got the killer.”

“No…” Abby shook her head. “Do you remember that time you came to me with a bottle of scotch to check for prints, and you said that chain of evidence wasn’t important?”

Any happiness in Shepard’s expression fell away and was replaced with utter seriousness. Abby had found the Director’s late father’s fingerprints on the bottle in question, and she feared something else related had turned up. “Yes.”

Abby nodded. “Well… it is important in this case, and it’s really important that I’m not on it, and it’s really _really_ important that no one else notices that.”

“Abby,” Shepard began as she leaned forward in her chair, “are you in trouble? Is someone inside NCIS threatening you?”

“No, no,” Abby stammered nervously. “I just need you to trust me and let someone else examine the evidence.”

Shepard sat back in her seat contemplating the situation. It wasn’t the worst scenario she imagined, but it wasn’t the best. “I do trust you, and that’s not easily gained from someone in my position. But you have to understand the implications of this kind of request where a group like OMNI is involved.”

Abby nodded, saying nothing.

“You need to trust me too, Abby,” Shepard urged.

Abby stared at the desk for a moment before looking up at Shepard. “I _was_ in danger, and after what happened at the warehouse, I think I’m okay. But I can’t risk the integrity of the case evidence if somehow… if somehow…”

“It got out that you were involved with OMNI?” Shepard guessed, her knowing gaze locked on Abby. It was the only other reason that made sense to her. “I think you’d better tell me the whole story.”

“I don’t think you’ll like it,” Abby warned with a grimace.

“I don’t expect to,” Shepard replied flatly.

Abby took a deep breath and quickly glanced at the door to ensure it was closed. “Okay. It… it happened about 8 years ago while I was in grad school. I was studying forensic science and chemistry, and I was friends with a lot of environmental science majors. They found some discrepancies with environmental damage information published by the government, and we decided to run some tests of our own.

“Well the results were wildly off, and I mean totally falsified. We tried to recruit some of the computer science majors to help us track down the original documents from the research team, which involved hacking into some government databases. Some helped openly, others helped anonymously. That’s when we found some federal agents poking around our lab, and we couldn’t risk doing any more digging from on-campus. But we knew that there was a lot the government wasn’t telling the public that they needed to know, so… we formed OMNI, about 15 of us, trying to represent the country. We were what OMNI called The Originals. We rented a space where we could do our digging without getting caught, but we never used our real names in our research. We got tattoos to identify our members so that we knew who we could trust and talk to. The only people who knew who I was were the people in my graduating class.

“We started getting people from other colleges to help us, and even got a few who said they were professors to get on board. The more people we got involved, the more falsified research we were finding from the government and even corporations – water contamination, biochemical experiments, animal testing, data collection – so much out there that we were exposing. People inside the companies were even starting to look for us to leak things they had found. We created a platform so we could communicate across the country with the other members and give out the information we found without being traced.”

“For a price,” Shepard added, wondering how it all tied together. “So you were involved in government and corporate espionage?”

“No!” Abby pleaded, her eyes starting to well. “No, we did it to help people! We never sold anything, we gave it away. People and animals were getting hurt, and the data we found was given to people that could do something about it. We just did the digging and the research.”

Shepard absorbed the information and pondered it for a moment. “What was your part in it?”

“Well I-” Abby bit her lip and hung her head shamefully. “I helped program the information platform and operating system, but mainly I ran chemical tests to determine what data had been falsified or redacted.”

Shepard folded her hands and took a breath. “So what happened to make OMNI what it is today? Where, if ever, did your involvement end?”

Abby wiped a stray tear dripping down her cheek. “After a year or so, some of the computer guys that got recruited were going after more than just environmental data from the government. They started stealing data that had nothing to do with our cause. Before we knew it, they were starting to sell it. It wasn’t what I signed up for. It wasn’t what a lot of us signed up for, so a bunch of us talked it over and left. We were the original OMNI members, called the Originals now - mostly the environmental crew but also some of us that helped make the platform and ran the experiments. We were just trying to get the truth out and fight government corruption, not steal secrets and sell them.”

Shepard handed her a tissue, then walked from her desk to pour herself a small scotch. Instead of sitting back behind her desk, she chose the sofa and motioned Abby over to sit next to her. “Go on.”

“Please believe me, I never thought it would get like this. After a couple of years of being away from them, I started hearing things about OMNI online, and some of the Originals contacted me to help get back onto the platform and see what was really happening. OMNI had beefed up security around it, but I know the base codes of the operating system and ways to get inside because I designed it. It was bad – all these communications that looked like gang ties, drug sales, stolen financial information… I couldn’t believe it. So… we decided to try to shut it down.

“I got help from… a friend…” she paused to preserve Riley’s identity, “who was better with encryption than I was to help break the platform and make it unusable. We coordinated with the other Originals and we thought we had it erased, but… they changed the security and got the platform back up. Then they realized who was trying to stop them, and that’s when they started hunting us.” She choked back another tear and fidgeted more in her seat on the sofa.

Shepard frowned. “Why are they still after you? Revenge?”

Abby shook her head. “There’s only so much of the base code of the platform they can change if they want to keep the name OMNI, which they’ve worked hard to make recognized online. Any of us that know enough of the platform can at least find it on the net, even if we can’t get inside. That made us a threat. They started trying to find us with trackers on websites and subtle attempts to lure is back in, and… I haven’t heard from a lot of the people I knew. I only know some of them by their online names, and…” her voice squeaked as she started to cry, “I haven’t heard from most of them and I don’t know if they’re still alive.”

“Oh god…” Shepard breathed. “Why the hell didn’t you tell Gibbs when this started?”

Abby shrugged and wiped her eyes. “Because… Because he couldn’t do anything about it, and I just didn’t… OMNI’s not just one person you can shoot with a gun, you know that. It’s been years since I’ve even heard anything about OMNI, and I didn’t even know our case led to them until we powered that laptop. I didn’t want him looking at me the way he looks at people he’s interrogating. The only person that knows anything about this is R-… my friend. When we realized what was happening years ago he helped erase my digital footprints, anything that used my aliases or that tied them to my real name. But I still have the tattoo. The UV ink can’t come out with laser removal, and now if OMNI’s really finished I can finally get surgery to get rid of it. I only kept it to show I was one of the Originals and that doesn’t matter anymore.”

Shepard nodded, then stood up and walked over to her desk. Abby followed and sat while the Director looked over the documents on the desk.

Shepard finally looked up at her. “What about the evidence on Manning that you’ve already examined?”

“I’ve catalogued everything thoroughly for it to be re-examined,” Abby replied pointedly. “I got McGee to sign off on the computer components and had him do most of the work after the computer blew up. I also made sure he was the one handling the memory card we found, but there’s still some stuff to fingerprint and analyze from last night and from Manning’s family.”

“If you can assure me that your connections with OMNI were severed years ago,” Shepard paused, stood up and walked over to Abby, “then there’s no need to re-examine the existing evidence. I’ll assign someone else to manage the new evidence, but on the one-in-a-million chance that Gibbs reads the signatures, you may need to come up with an excuse.”

Abby stood up humbly. “So… you won’t tell him?”

“Not a word,” Shepard promised. “But you should now that this is over.”

Abby let out a breath of relief and hugged the Director. Not the usual quick and grasping hug, but a grateful, slow but firm hug. Shepard smiled and gave her a gentle hug back, rolling her eyes happily for her quirky forensic scientist.

NCIS

Tim exhaustedly pushed through the door to his apartment. The softest of glows from the sunrise drifted through the window and lit the space just enough so he could see. It would normally mean it was time for him to get up and go to work, but today it meant he’d been up for nearly 24-hours straight. Tim’s arms and legs ached as he trudged into the kitchen, and head spun from thinking too much. He quickly snatched a pair of pain-relieving tablets from the cabinet, filled a glass with water and downed the pills. He held the half-full glass of cold water against his head, hoping it would somehow clear his mind and help him sort out this mess.

_‘How could I have let this happen?’_ He thought to himself. _‘And so fast? I could never even manage one relationship, much less two.’_

Tony’s sarcastic voice echoed in his head, _‘Shoulda left relationships to me, McDead.’_

“I wasn’t-” Tim sighed disgustedly to himself but was quickly cut off by Ziva’s matter-of-fact voice also from within,

_‘You’re not in two relationships, you’re just in love with two people and not being honest about it.’_

Tony’s voice replied, _‘I think that’s almost worse.’_

“Shut up, both of you,” Tim hissed through gritted teeth before leaving the kitchen.

But he realized that his inner demons were correct, he had been in love with Gibbs for a long time and had just fell in love with Riley. He simply didn’t understand his love for Riley because of how different it felt from Gibbs, the same way almost everything about Riley felt different from Gibbs.

Tim stripped off his work clothes as he reached the bedroom, then turned on the ceiling fan and lowered the blinds on the window for maximum darkness. He decided to forego his usual ritual of a post-work shower and brushing his teeth because his mind just couldn’t stop racing with indecision and confusion.

He was never one to break his ritual, something for which Tony frequently teased him. Whether it was the quirky way he would blow on his coffee before every sip, the exact number of brushes for each of his teeth, or the way he started up his computer every morning at home or work, Tim always did it with perfect and almost robotic repetition. That was all before Riley came into Tim’s life.

Tim dropped himself onto his bed, burying his head under a pillow and holding it over his ears as if it would make the thoughts stop. A month ago when Riley showed up, Tim’s heart slowly twisted like a pretzel. Riley picked Tim up and cut through his daydreams with something real. Tim thought he already had something real with Gibbs, and it led to what felt like a lifetime of unrequited yearning. _‘No,’_ he reminded himself. _‘It wasn’t like that. We’re fine just the way we are together.’_

Those words usually convinced him and let him survive to the next day of the same routine. Something good would happen with Gibbs, like when Gibbs held him and comforted him after his near-death experience, a moment where it seemed like he and Gibbs had been in the perfect relationship all along. Then Gibbs would drift away, become cold and distant, and Tim would be left feeling alone again. But ever since Riley came along, Tim started to remember what it was like to be in a relationship and that he was crazy for thinking that’s what he and Gibbs had.

Tim sighed and rolled over, looking up at the ceiling fan whirling cool air around his body. He watched it as it hypnotically spun, slowly seeming to drown out the noise in his head.

He felt dazed, and as his eyes adjusted to the dark they found a small pinpoint of light reflecting from the fan down at him. His eyelids felt heavy like the rest of his body. His arms rested limply beside him as the air rippled across his skin. He felt warmth radiate from beneath him, and a stubbly chin rose from his pillow up to the back of his neck while hot, gentle lips nipped at the skin. Soft, salt-and-pepper hair brushed across Tim’s neck. Tim gasped quietly as hands gently traced their way around his hips from underneath him. The skin of the man’s hands felt smooth yet dry like sanded wood, and tiny flames sparked up just behind the fingers as they ran over Tim’s skin. The heat and the light touches of the lips and hands sent jolts down to Tim’s cock, which responded by twitching and filling rapidly.

The man breathed into his ear with a deep and familiar voice, _“Tim…”_

The heat from the breath made Tim sharply breathe in, and as he did the smell of whiskey and sawdust filled his nostrils. He groaned softly and leaned his head back against the neck and chest that rose from the bed beneath him. The fiery heat from Gibbs’ body appearing underneath him was starting to make Tim sweat. He felt the torso connect against his back, firmly supporting and lifting him upward. Tim ran his hands along the arms caressing him. Unlike the hands touching him, the arms and the rest of the body felt soft and smooth like the skin of the man he had seen so often. He felt the man’s groin appear under his buttocks, and the hard shaft he felt made his own ache with stiffness. Tim slowly drifted his hands downward, one to try to ease his steel cock’s pressure and the other to feel the man’s thickness pressing between his cheeks. Powerful thighs slowly pushed up Tim’s legs, and Tim felt his fingers and the other man’s silky-smooth head tease his quivering entrance.

_“Please,”_ Tim whimpered.

Gibbs growled in a low voice that was too familiar, _“I’ve got you, Tim,”_ and pressed the head of his cock into Tim’s moistening hole.

Tim moaned loudly with pleasure. He stroked himself and hungrily enveloped the invading member. Gibbs continued into Tim until he pressed himself all the way inside him, leaving their bodies grappled tightly together in mid-air as the bed was long-forgotten.

Tim suddenly felt cool air waft over his body in a large wave. He peeked his eyes open to look up at the fan which now seemed to be miles away. The light above him was blocked by the silhouette of a man with wings and a tail drifting down towards him. With each slow flap of the man’s wings, Tim felt more cool air blow across his heated body. As he drew closer, McGee could see the feathered wings were black and shone like leather, and the thin, black tail twirled freely in the air. Against the light Tim couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could see that he was also naked and recognized the bare chest. As Riley lowered down to Tim he parted his own legs to slide gently down on top of Tim’s navel. His skin was cool to the touch and smooth as leather, and his hands brought refreshing cold to Tim’s body as they traveled up his chest. Tim sighed with relief he didn’t know he needed and shut his eyes again. His skin raised with goosebumps and his nipples hardened in the cold air. Riley reached down and kissed Tim gently on the lips. The lips tasted like cold, sweet rainwater, and Tim kissed back thirstily.

The kiss parted softly, and Riley whispered with his smooth, gentle voice, _“I’m all yours, Tim.”_ His cold breath and familiar whisper sent cool shivers down Tim’s spine that battled the flames from Gibbs’ chest against Tim’s back. Riley eased himself back against Tim’s pre-cum-slicked cock and gently inched it inside him.

Tim threw his head back in ecstasy as the sensations ripped control of his body away from him. The men above and below him raised and lowered themselves in synchronous rhythm. They peppered him with blazing hot and icy cold kisses. Riley on top kissed him again on the lips and trailed off to his neck. Tim turned his head as Gibbs pressed his warm lips across Tim’s cheek. He reached further for the Gibbs’ kiss with his lips but couldn’t seem to reach. Their rhythm intensified. Tim sweat with the heat but it quickly turned cold across his skin.

His body was being ripped apart by the hot and cold coursing through his veins. Pleasure reverberated through him, unfocused and unbridled, threatening to break him in half. He writhed between the bodies as they continued kneading and thrusting into him. Gibbs sank a fiery bite into Tim’s neck, causing him to gasp. His arms held him safely and securely, making him never want to leave. Riley’s cool lips found his again and the man’s tongue danced with Tim’s. Riley continued his kisses down the other side of Tim’s neck, radiating refreshing cold down his chest. As he flapped his wings, Tim felt cool air around him and a feeling of soaring freely as he was pulled upward against the warm arms that held him down. Tim again reached for Gibbs’ lips, wanting to taste the fire and whiskey on his tongue. Again the man would not complete the kiss but kept teasing him by keeping his lips near Tim’s ear. Tim felt the pressure building in his groin, the bucking power pushing and pulling his body intensified, and he heaved lewd moans into the darkness surrounding him. The two men whispered together, _“Tim…”_

_“Cum for me,”_ Gibbs ordered firmly.

_“Cum with me,”_ Riley asked gently.

The sensual voices of his lovers threw his body into overdrive, and his orgasm tore through him. His legs wrenched themselves upward, his fists clenched, and he screamed louder than he ever would have by himself as his first volley of cum sprayed up his chest and onto his face. He yelped loudly with each of the next jets as they coated his torso with volcanic heat followed by a relaxing cold as the liquid cooled. He panted as the spasms subsided and he looked around. He was alone in his bed, his damp hair clung to his forehead and his breaths were fast and deep. He was covered in sweat and pools of his own ejaculate but barely noticed after the overload of all of his nerves. He kept still as he regained his composure, remembering the last time this dream had woken him up to the same mess.

_‘I can’t keep doing this,’_ he thought to himself. _‘I have to choose.’_

He gingerly rose from the bed and went into the bathroom to begin a long and thoughtful shower. The hot water on his skin helped soothe his muscles, but it did little for the thoughts in his head.

_‘It’s not fair to Riley. I can’t be with him when I keep wanting someone else, even if I do love him. And Gibbs… what am I going to do? I can’t just confront him about it, and I can’t tell Riley that I’m still feeling things for him… So I have to end with Riley and just… keep my distance from Gibbs.’_

Tony’s voice scoffed, _‘Come on, McMoron. Riley’s the best thing that’s happened to you. You’re really going to throw that away because you have a weakness for the Boss-man?’_

Tim groaned. He was too tired to be able to mentally shut Tony out. “I don’t want to leave the team because of this,” he replied, his words resonating off the shower walls. “Gibbs would try to get me to stay, and that’d start this whole thing over again from the beginning. Not to mention what Abby would do. And if I tell Riley the truth and still can’t work with Gibbs, I’ll lose everyone.”

_‘Ha!’_ Ziva laughed triumphantly. _‘I was right, and you know it. You’re in a cucumber now.’_

“Pickle,” Tim corrected out loud, but then a thought occurred to him. _‘Wait, if Ziva knows that I had feelings for Gibbs, she’s someone I can talk to about it.’_

Tony protested. _‘Wait, wait, wait, you’re wanting dating advice from a woman whose ideal man is printed on paper at a shooting range?’_

Abby’s scorning voice joined the cacophony. _‘Yeah, really? I know Riley AND Gibbs better than her.’_

_‘But you don’t know about loss,’_ Ziva argued. _‘I fell in love with a man very quickly, just like Tim, and I lost him. And you don’t know that Tim wants Gibbs. I do.’_

_‘I will if he doesn’t get his act together!’_ Abby retorted.

Tim lightly thudded his head against the tile wall in defeat. Abby, or at least his image of her, was right. If he let go of Riley, Abby would know something was holding him back and wouldn’t stop digging until he told her. And Ziva did know what it was like to fall in love quickly. It left him with one choice.

He turned off the shower and quickly toweled off, then dug through his pants pockets for his phone. He quickly whispered, “Please don’t be a bad idea,” then dialed Ziva’s contact.

The phone rang four times before Ziva’s sleepy and cranky voice answered, _“What?”_

Tim took a deep, nervous breath. “I need your help.”

Ziva let out an agonized groan. _“M-McGee, I was almost asleep. Can it wait?”_

“I…” he paused, then sighed. “You were right. What you said earlier, you were right. And I need to talk about it.”

_“Mmfph… get some sleep and we’ll talk later.”_

“I can’t sleep,” he begged. “I need your help. Can we go somewhere so we can talk?”

There was silence on the line for a moment before she sternly but sleepily replied, _“There will be coffee when I get to your apartment or you die,”_ and hung up.


	15. Chapter 14

NCIS

Tim stood silently waiting for Ziva’s death glare to soften as she chugged down an oversized mug of coffee. Her squinted eyes didn’t blink or break eye contact as she drank. She stood in Tim’s kitchen wearing a light hoodie, tank top, and loose pajama pants while clutching the mug. While definitely fatigued, she wasn’t actually angry but rather just making sure that Tim kept the coffee flowing and didn’t renege on his admission. In truth, she and Tim weren’t very close, and she viewed this as a possibly defining moment in their friendship. She momentarily broke eye contact to drink up the last drop of coffee in her mug, then turned back to the machine to refill it.

“So,” she began with her back to him, “are you going to say it?”

Tim leaned against the counter across from her and gulped. “Well… you already know what it is.”

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled coyly. “Then say it.”

“I… we-well I…” he stammered. He’d never actually said out loud that he loved Gibbs, and every reflex fought him from doing so.

“Come on, Tim,” she taunted. She turned around and took another sip from her fresh mug of coffee. “If you can’t say it then you don’t really need me yet.”

He grunted uncomfortably and slowly pushed through his instincts. “I… I think I’m… still… in love with Gibbs.” As the words left his mouth, he felt terrified of what she would say.

The corners of her mouth inched up with glee but she maintained her smooth composure. “And?” she asked expectantly.

With no negative reaction, a massive weight seemed to lift itself partly from him. He knew she was not finished and realized what else she wanted to hear. He shut his eyes in dread, then took a deep breath and reopened them. “And I’m also in love with Riley.”

She allowed the smile to finish spreading across her face and hummed happily. She kept watch over him to make sure there was no lie, which there was not. Tim felt the rest of the weight shed from his body, and relief poured in. He just told someone his deepest secret, and she was not upset or taunting him about it.

_‘Yet,’_ he thought to himself.

“And why do you want _my_ help?” she asked, still smiling.

Tim breathed nervously. “I don’t know what to do, and you’re the only one who knows about…”

She raised her eyebrows, pushing him to say it again.

“Gibbs,” he admitted again.

Ziva nodded and started slowly pacing the length of the narrow kitchen. “Well obviously, Gibbs has _Rule Twelve: ‘Never date a coworker,’_ so it’s not going to happen. Unless…” she paused and faced him curiously, “something has already happened?”

Tim shook his head. “Nothing… well… I don’t know.”

Her eyes widened with alarm. “How could you not know?”

“Nothing has really _happened_ ,” he assured her. “Just… little things he does that make me feel like there’s something more. Not just a ‘Good job, McGee,’ or _not_ head-slapping me for something. It’s the way he’ll sometimes look at me when we’re alone, or how sometimes he touches me when he doesn’t have to…” his hand drifted up to the side of his neck where he was almost sure Gibbs kissed him that night wrestling the Marine from their case. He felt a little self-conscious blurting everything out, but it felt so good saying it all out loud.

She added that to her mental notes and continued pacing. “So the feelings are returned?”

“I thought so once… maybe a couple of times but then he’ll get distant again like nothing ever happened. He’d do something that made me feel like I belonged with him, then continue on, business as usual.” Tim stared at the ceiling while he thought of the time in the elevator. “Then this morning he said… he said he was scared when I almost fell off the catwalk.”

She stopped and stared in disbelief. “Gibbs was _scared_?”

“I know,” Tim admitted with surprise. “I was a mess, but he… he held me.” He felt awkward saying it to Ziva, but it felt good to be honest. “And he smiled and laughed and made me feel safe and secure. I’m sure it wasn’t in my head. Gibbs doesn’t do that for anyone over twelve.”

Ziva nodded in agreement and continued pacing. “It was only three stories up. You probably wouldn’t have died, just broken a lot of things.”

“Gee, thanks,” Tim sighed sarcastically. “But then he pulled away. And wouldn’t really look at me after, like he knew he went too far and was ashamed. I guess it makes sense since he knows about me and Riley. But if he does, why would he do that?”

“Maybe you should actually _ask_ him,” she suggested. “If he shares your feelings, maybe he’s not over them, or maybe his simply made a mistake.”

Tim’s heart fluttered at the possibility of actually hearing Gibbs admitting his feelings, but his mind thought otherwise. “What would I even say? What if all this is just my mistake? Gibbs doesn’t make mistakes.”

“ _Everyone_ makes mistakes, McGee,” Ziva reminded him. “Gibbs… he’s exceptional, but nobody’s perfect. The fact that he seemed ashamed of comforting you means that he knew what he did was crossing a line.”

She continued walking out to the living room and sat down in Tim’s desk chair. He followed and sat in the opposite workbench chair, taking in what she said and waiting for her to finish another sip.

“Regarding what you would say, why do you love him?” she asked.

He crossed his arms and tried to string together the words. “I don’t know… I just do. He gives me confidence and he’s a great mentor. I feel safe when I’m around him and he does those little things that make me happy. I look up to him, I do the best I can to be like him. We work really well together, and those little things just… they all made me think there’s a chance it could really happen.”

She took another sip of her coffee. “And Riley?”

Tim twiddled his thumbs and sucked in his bottom lip, thinking of Riley’s mouth on his in the rain. “Riley… It all just happened so fast. He caught me completely off-guard. The way he looks, he could have anyone. But the way he looked at me the first time we…” he paused, but gave her an implying look. “He made me feel… good. Good about myself. He wanted me. He liked me, he cared what I thought. He made it real.”

“And after that?”

He remembered how it felt to have Riley cuddled up while Tim read him _The Hobbit_. “It’s like he doesn’t know how to be self-conscious, and he just has fun doing everything. He’s always happy even when he’s overwhelmed, and he just doesn’t shy away from anything – even stuff other people would think is stupid. He even likes my book. He’s just a great guy. I feel great whenever I’m with him.”

Ziva shot him a bitter look at the mention of his book containing a caricature of her, then took another sip of coffee. “So what’s wrong? This doesn’t seem like a hard choice, McGee. It’s either Gibbs, the man you haven’t been and can’t ever be with, or Riley, the man you have been and can be with.”

Tim exhaled slowly and started nervously rocking back and forth in his chair. “It’s not the choice… I know I can’t be with Gibbs, I’ve already told myself that and I’ve been trying to move on with Riley. I tried to get Gibbs out of my head but I can’t. When it seems like I have, something always happens to remind me of him, something more than just seeing him at work. He… When he quit last year and went to Mexico I almost had closure, but then he came back and he kept doing those little things just for me, and it really cemented him back in place. I still fantasize about him sometimes, and then I feel guilty about it. I’ve loved Gibbs for so long that I never got the chance to stop before falling in love with Riley, and it’s not fair to Riley.”

“Ah!” Ziva smiled again and lifted her index finger from her mug to point at him. “You just said it again.”

“Said what?”

Ziva shifted in her seat and set her mug on the desk. “You first said you are ‘in love’ with Gibbs, but more times than that you just said ‘love.’ Apart from wanting Gibbs sexually, which-” she waved her hand in front of her face, “-I really don’t want to picture, it’s not hard to believe you love someone with whom you work. I think it’s fair to say you loved Kate?”

Tim sighed uncomfortably. He did imagine Kate in sexy clothes before, but his fantasies never went as far as those with Gibbs. “This… this is very different. I was definitely _in love_ with him. I would’ve done anything for him. I wanted to belong to him.”

“Do you now?” she asked. “Is that how you want to feel all the time?”

“I don’t know,” he replied sullenly. “I feel… I like how I feel when I’m with Riley, and I guess… I guess all I was really doing was just waiting for Gibbs and never actually belonged to him. So… I guess not.”

Ziva smirked. “There you go. It isn’t a crime to have been in love with Gibbs. Against the rules, yes. But it’s okay if you still feel some love for him as a friend, colleague and mentor, while loving Riley as a lover. And now that you know how you feel, there’s really only one thing left for you to do.”

“What?”

She leaned closer to him and looked him squarely in the face. “Go. Talk. To. Gibbs. You need closure with him if you want to have a real relationship with Riley.”

Tim dropped back into his chair exhaustedly and sighed. His heart and head felt light with the revelation and, in a way, permission from Ziva for what he had to do, but he was terrified of the moment he knew had to come someday. Gibbs wasn’t making a move, and Ziva was right that Tim couldn’t be fair to Riley until he’d gotten closure. He had to stop waiting.

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll go now before I lose my nerve.”

Ziva nodded and stood up. “Before you do,” she paused, walked over to him and held out her hand. “The going rate for a therapist’s house call is $250. I’ll accept cash or check.”

NCIS

Tim wasn’t sure if he should knock on Gibbs’ door or not. He knew it was unlocked, and based on Gibbs’ truck outside he knew Gibbs was home. It was close to 8:30 AM, and Tim was feeling immensely drained but needed to have this conversation. He finally decided to quietly open the door and tiptoe through, hoping to avoid any creaky floorboards. He looked around Gibbs’ living room and saw the couch laid out with sheets and a pillow, but no Gibbs. He turned suddenly when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

Gibbs looked tired but surprised to see Tim as he rounded through the basement door. “Morning, McGee. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

Tim’s tongue was tied as he was alone with Gibbs on personal time for one of the first times he could remember. “I… uh… I… couldn’t,” he stammered.

Gibbs smiled warmly. “I’ll make you some coffee.” He turned to go to the kitchen.

“No,” Tim blurted out. “I just wanted to talk.”

The older man turned back to look at him curiously with a hint of worry, then slowly stepped forward.

Tim breathed shallowly, trying to speak multiple times and failing. _‘Just say it,’_ he urged himself. He took a deep breath and finally managed the words, “Do you have feelings for me?”

Gibbs’ face stayed still as he absorbed the question. He didn’t tense, nor did his face show any element of surprise, but rather he looked like he was working on an answer.

Now instead of holding him back, Tim’s nerves began working his mouth before he could fully think of the words. “It’s just… you touch me sometimes, you stand really close, and the way you smile at me… I really like it but just want to know what it all means. I’m-I’m trying to understand because I-”

“-You’re with Riley,” Gibbs softly cut him off, looking calculatingly at him.

Tim nodded back. “I’m trying to be. But, I didn’t want… I didn’t know how you felt after we talked in the elevator, or if it was all in my head, with all the little things you were doing just for me.”

Gibbs smiled and looked away, shaking his head, then gently stared back into the young agent’s eyes. “I thought you needed incentive. You seemed to do better with a little more attention. I’m your boss, Tim, and you’re a great agent and you belong on this team. I wanted to make sure that you knew that. I’ll always try to give you what you need to be a great agent, and I’ll always have your back, but that’s all. If I overstepped or made you feel something else, it won’t happen again.”

Tim breathed a little easier, but felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. He had a guilt-free path to Riley, but it wasn’t easy hearing that all the feelings he tortured himself with were unrequited. It wasn’t a surprise to him, but it didn’t make it easier to know. _‘It’s over,’_ he finally thought to himself, letting it truly sink into his core for the first time.

“Are you okay?” Gibbs asked.

Tim’s head snapped back to Gibbs’ foyer. He took another breath and realized just how tired he was, both physically and mentally. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Thank you. No, you didn’t overstep, I just needed to know.”

Gibbs smirked again but didn’t move closer. “Go home and get some sleep. Team’s got the day off.”

Tim sleepily smiled back and headed out the door. After he left, Gibbs quietly walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter over the sink. Slowly his head fell and his hands grew white with how tight they gripped the counter.

“It’s for the best,” he whispered to himself.

NCIS

Tim woke with a start sitting at his writing desk. He looked at his watch which showed 1:30 PM, but he couldn’t imagine he got more three or four hours of sleep. He had been busy typing since his conversation with Gibbs earlier that morning, and after 24 hours without sleep he propped his head up with his hand and fell asleep accidentally. The sun streamed in through the window and lit up the writing corner, which was separated from his living room by his bookshelf. Tim squinted at his typewriter and the piece of paper still in it, but the last bits of his “free-writing” seemed to make no sense at all. He felt a slight dull ache still present in his limbs, but they felt much better than earlier.

_*HHNGGGGGCCCCCCKK*_

The sound of Ziva’s chainsaw-like snore from Tim’s bedroom ripped through the still silence and jarred Tim completely awake. He quietly stood up and looked through the open bedroom door to see Ziva sprawled out on the bed, deathly asleep and more disheveled than Tim had ever seen her. He remembered that he let her stay and sleep because she’d driven far to help him out, and smiled with gratitude. Looking back at the morning he felt good about how he’d handle things with Riley and still working with Gibbs, and proud of himself for finally talking to Gibbs about his feelings. He was trying to determine if he could use the bathroom without waking her when he heard soft knocking on the front door.

_‘Who could that be?’_ he thought to himself. _‘I thought Gibbs gave us the day off.’_

He padded over to the door while another Ziva continued snoring, and through the peephole he saw Riley standing outside in his blue-striped black leather jacket, looking apprehensive while holding a bakery box. Tim panicked as memories of his earlier conversation came flooding back, and he struggled to remember if he asked Riley to come over but smiled at the surprise. His hand absently ran up to his hair and, upon feeling it was in shambles, quickly straightened it and opened the door.

“Riley!” Tim gasped, still trying to straighten out his old t-shirt and pajama pants.

Riley smiled brightly and his eyes glowed as he saw Tim. “Hey, you’re up!”

Tim was caught off-guard by Riley’s sudden appearance but couldn’t resist Riley in his favorite leather coat, so he pulled him into the apartment with a quick kiss. He kept his voice somewhat low when he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Riley quickly slid the bakery box onto the counter in the kitchen then turned back around. “I tried calling you but your phone was off, so I was gonna drop off something for you in case you were still asleep and didn’t answer the door.”

Tim scrunched his brow in confusion. “My phone-?” he cut himself off and pulled his phone out of his pocket to find its battery dead. “Oh… I never plugged it in last-”

_*HHNGGGGGCCCCCCKK*_

Another snore from the bedroom startled him and alarmed Riley, whose expression and voice dropped.

“You’re… not alone?” he asked quietly as he looked cautiously up at Tim.

“No, no, it’s not like that,” Tim chuckled. “Ziva kinda… slept over.”

Riley looked even more confused. “Wait, Ziva? She’s the one on your tea- oh! Are you…?”

“No, no,” Tim smiled and motioned him towards the bedroom door. “She just stayed over.”

Riley quietly followed Tim as they tiptoed to the bedroom door, and his jaw dropped when he saw Ziva on the bed and heard her rip out another loud snore.

_*HHNGGGGGCCCCCCKK*_

“Oh my _god_!” he quietly laughed with amazement.

Tim saw relief cross Riley’s face and almost gasped. “Were you… _jealous?_ ” he gleefully asked.

“Hush up,” Riley hissed with a blush and turned back to the kitchen.

Tim closed the bedroom door and fought not to skip while joyfully jeering, “You were! You were totally jealous!”

He quickly plugged his phone in at his desk and followed Riley. He had been nervous when Riley showed up, but seeing Riley wanting him to himself was exactly what Tim needed that morning.

“Fiiiine,” Riley pouted. “A little. I hoped to take you to lunch… or breakfast, whatever it is when we wake up this late. What were you two up to?”

Tim went through the kitchen and started a fresh pot of coffee. “She was helping me with… something I was stuck on. It was letting her sleep here or paying $250…” he grumbled.

“Paying what?” Riley asked with a curious look as he took out a pair of muffins from the box.

“Nothing,” Tim chuckled and snaked his arms around Riley, holding him from behind and resting his head against Riley’s. “You didn’t have to bring me anything, Riley.”

Riley hummed happily and weaved his fingers into Tim’s. “I wanted to. We hadn’t talked in a couple of days, and didn’t really get to talk when we ran into each other. Then the warehouse…”

“Shh…” Tim quietly shushed him, partly to comfort him but also so Tim wouldn’t have to think about what happened. “I’m okay. I was just a little shaken after, but I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Riley turned around in Tim’s arms and looked up at him. “I missed you.”

He reached up on his toes to kiss Tim on the mouth and ran his hands up Tim’s chest. Tim squeezed him tighter and let Riley’s tongue invade his mouth. They breathed heavily and quietly while they drank in each other, and Tim let out a moan when Riley kissed down his neck. They were interrupted by another snore, loud but muffled by the closed bedroom door.

_*HHNGGGGGCCCCCCKK*_

Riley snickered into a laughing fit and thumped his head into Tim’s chest. Tim couldn’t help but both cringe and laugh as he held Riley close.

Then Riley whispered, “Do you want me to go in case she wakes up?”

Tim shook his head and gently squeezed him. “No, it’s fine. She knows about us. So does Tony, actually.”

Riley looked taken aback and he looked up at Tim. “Wow, that’s… that’s pretty big. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Tim smiled. “I didn’t really think about it, but yeah I am. Only thing is that Tony and Ziva don’t know that the other knows, and it’s a whole thing about one playing the other, but whatever. It’s better than I thought it would be.”

“How did they figure it out?” Riley asked. “I mean, our plan wasn’t exactly ironclad but I thought it’d hold longer.”

The timer chimed on the coffee maker, prompting Tim to turn and grab two fresh mugs from the cabinet.

“Tony suspected after I let it slip you and I were talking about the case. I was a little worried at first but all he cared about was holding it over Ziva. She, on the other hand, thought we were together all along and threatened to punch you for what happened in the lab. I caved so that she wouldn’t.”

Riley frowned and lifted himself to sit up on the counter. “You… you outed yourself just for that?”

“’ _Just for that_?’” Tim scoffed, still with his back to Riley while pouring the coffee. “I think _not_ seeing your boyfriend get punched is as good a reason as any, right?”

He turned to hand Riley his mug, but Riley was looking down at the floor with his hands tightly gripping the edge of the counter. Tim’s smile immediately fell and he set the mugs aside.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked softly.

Riley was silent for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words which Tim had never seen from him.

Tim set his hand on Riley’s. “What’s wrong?”

Riley slowly leaned into Tim’s shoulder. “You just make it sound so easy.”

Tim pulled Riley closer and held him. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never… never been with anyone who actually told people about me,” he admitted. “I mean, in one case it was understandable, but… other times it was just like it wasn’t worth it. Like _I_ wasn’t. I just got used to being the one taking the risks. And I’ve been trying to hold myself back but then you just…” He raised his hands in frustration and scoffed.

Tim lifted an eyebrow and pulled back. “Holding back? How? Why?”

Riley sighed, slid off the counter, and faced away from Tim with his arms crossed. “From going too fast, Tim. It’s what I do. I fall hard and fast. We’ve only known each other for a month and have dated for about half that. And yet I’m still entirely crazy about you.” He spun around facing Tim with a smile he couldn’t contain. “You make me smile, you make me laugh, you challenge me, you actually express feelings which is quite refreshing… The idea of relaxing and actually getting to be with you after all the chaos has been the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Then last night you went and almost took a swan dive off a catwalk and I was just completely terrified for the first time in a long time. And… well… now that _that’s_ out I sound like a complete moron.” He sighed again and chuckled.

Warm and fuzzy feelings filled Tim’s chest and a goofy grin spread across his face as Riley spoke. He realized that deep down, Riley was just as bad at overthinking as he was. Riley had bottled up his feelings, like Abby said, and now they were pouring out. He smiled thinking that if all it took to get Riley to spill his guts like this was to tell Tony and Ziva the truth, he would’ve done it a lot sooner.

Tim reached out confidently and took Riley’s hands in his. “That’s… that’s definitely one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.” His hand started tracing its way up Riley’s wrist to his arm, and they inched closer together again. “You make me feel understood, you don’t think I’m weird, even when I’m self-conscious you make me feel… just… amazing.”

Riley’s deep blue eyes shone bright as they stared into Tim’s. He dropped his voice to a whisper, “This has to be crazy though, doesn’t it? It feels like it’s been a lot longer than just a month, but…”

“I know. I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a while,” Tim breathed. _‘It’s okay that I loved Gibbs, and okay to be in love with Riley,’_ he reminded himself before any guilt could be conceived.

Riley gently squeezed Tim’s arm. “I think I’m…”

He paused for a second, never breaking his stare into Tim’s eyes. Tim’s heart pounded in his ears in anticipation for what Riley would say. They stood breathlessly for a moment before Riley finally continued.

“Fuck it, I’m gonna say it. I’m in love with you, Tim.”

Any wall that Tim had left tumbled as an uncontrollable grin smeared its way across his face, and his cheeks were redder than traffic lights. “I really hoped you’d say that.”

“You did?” Riley finally smiled and chewed his bottom lip.

Tim cupped the back of Riley’s neck and pressed in for a quick but passionate kiss. As their lips parted he whispered, “Yes. I’m in love with you too.”

Riley threw his arms over Tim’s shoulders and their lips collided. Tim’s free hand roamed up Riley’s back, memorizing the texture of the man’s skin and the ink underneath. Riley’s kisses became hungry and searching. Their tongues danced like they never had before, and their faces grew warm with rushing blood. His hand grabbed Tim by the buttocks and gnashed their bodies together.

_*HHNGGGGGCCCCCCKK*_

They both froze, panting, unsure what to do. Their eyes slowly opened, both intensely staring at the other.

“My place?” Riley breathed.

“I’ll drive,” Tim replied and reached for his keys, leaving a spare set out for Ziva.

NCIS

A trail of clothes ran from Riley’s door through the kitchen to the bedroom as the pair staggered through the apartment, fumbling with each other, trying not to break their kiss as they made their way. They tipped over the edge of the bed and rolled across the white sheets as they grappled each other, hands entwined and hearts pounding. Riley nibbled his way down Tim’s neck and down his chest, massaging as he went.

Tim writhed with electric pleasure as Riley’s mouth met his inner thighs. His cock was achingly rigid at Riley’s touch, and his hand gripped the sheets when he felt the moist contact on his shaft. Riley’s tongue flicked across the head, sending goosebumps across Tim’s body. Riley’s finger’s dug into Tim’s thighs, massaging them and prodding their way down to Tim’s crack. His thumbs toyed with Tim’s hole in circles while Riley mouthed his way up Tim’s cock. Tim moaned at the new sensations, never having been touched by anyone else there.

A small flame of panic rose within Tim, however. For years he had wanted Gibbs to be the first to take him, and while he did love Riley and wanted him to do it, he wasn’t quite prepared for that step yet.

“Wait,” he panted.

Riley stopped and look back up at Tim from between his legs, smiling seductively. “You okay?”

Tim’s hands searched for Riley’s and held them tight. “I’ve… I’ve never…”

“Ah,” Riley nodded understandingly and softly blew a cool breath across Tim’s groin, making the other gasp. “Do you want to try?”

Tim smiled and shakily laughed. “Not yet… but someday. I promise. There’s something I should tell you though.”

The other man looked with a bit of panic into Tim’s eyes, and sat back on his heels. “What?”

Tim took a deep breath, then returned Riley’s look. “I still had feelings for someone else when we met, and when we started seeing each other. Nothing ever happened and it’s all done with, but if we’re going to do this right I needed to tell you.”

Riley sighed with relief. “That’s it?”

Tim felt a little dumbstruck. He thought Riley would’ve taken it differently. “Well, yeah. You’re not mad?”

The other man giggled and grimaced. “No, but… I want to be honest too. Trouble is that I kinda can’t because it involves the case we’re on. I just want you to know that I’m sorry.”

Tim frowned and sat up. “About the case? What do you mean?”

“I-I can’t tell you,” Riley pleaded. “But I promise, I did what I had to so that we could take OMNI down and keep you out of harm’s way. I’m just sorry it had to involve you.”

Tim reached over and pulled Riley to him. “Was it the right thing to do?”

Riley immediately answered, “Yes. Without a doubt. I just don’t want something I did as an agent casting a shadow over our personal relationship.”

Tim kissed Riley softly on the mouth and pulled the man down on top of him. “Then don’t worry about it. I trust you. Besides, it’s not like I could tell you everything about our end of the case.”

Riley grinned and squeezed Tim’s shaft while whispering, “Maybe you should still punish me to the fullest extent of the law.”

Riley dove his mouth down onto Tim’s cock and pressed a hand down on Tim’s chest to keep him pinned down. Tim grunted and roughly grabbed Riley’s hair. His mind was blank as fire rushed through his body. Riley moaned around Tim’s shaft as his hands wandered across Tim’s body, leaving trails of goosebumps in their wake. They both sensed as Tim’s balls rose closer to his body, and immediately Riley pulled off of him.

They panted as they looked at each other, each glowing with pleasure. Riley reached over to his nightstand to snatch the lube from within, then collapsed next to Tim. Tim rolled over top of Riley and peppered him with kisses across his neck and lips. Riley weaved his fingers up Tim’s neck into his hair and kissed him tenderly back.

“You still love me?” Riley whispered, gazing hesitantly into Tim’s eyes.

Tim snorted and laughed. “You think I’ve already changed my mind?”

Riley smiled. “Just giving you a chance for second thoughts after our little confessions.”

“No second thoughts,” Tim answered confidently. “But no more secrets. Deal?”

“Mmm… No more secrets, definitely.” Riley hummed happily.

Tim cupped Riley’s cheek with his hand. “It’s just like you said – it’s fast and crazy, but I’m still crazy in love with you.”

Riley kissed his hand and relished the touch. “I think I loved you from the first time I saw you at the club.”

Tim smiled. “I had a feeling about you then. But I knew I loved you when you fell asleep while I was reading to you. I knew it then and I know it now.”

Riley grinned and hooked his legs around Tim’s waist, pulling him close. Riley reached between them slicked up Tim’s cock with lube, then Tim leaned forward to press it into Riley’s warm entrance. Riley gasped and threw his head back into the pillows as Tim thrusted forward. His fingers gripped Tim tightly and his toes curled. Tim fell into Riley as his hips kept gyrating. Their lips and hands locked together as they passionately consummated the new level of their relationship. The feeling of Riley’s tightness and warmth without the barrier of the condom was driving Tim quickly to the breaking point, but even as he tried to slow down, Riley pulled him back in like a machine. Tim groaned as he thrusted faster, and when Riley sank his teeth into Tim’s ear, Tim lost control and his orgasm ripped through his body. Riley yelled in his ear and shook as he felt Tim’s load shooting inside him, triggering his own violent climax.

Tim’s head spun in a whirlwind as he fell to the side, dizzy and throbbing but still in ecstasy. Riley panted in unison with him as they both came down from their high. Riley reached an arm around Tim’s chest and under the pillows to spoon up behind him. Tim smiled and snuggled close to him, never having been the little spoon before.

Riley nuzzled close to his ear and whispered, “Stay?”

Tim nodded and slid the covers over them as they drifted to sleep.

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall tapped her foot impatiently while sitting at the desk in her secured office. She stared at the virtual conference room on her computer with Zero’s icon at the head of the table, waiting for it to begin. She kept checking the text message she received from the usual Unknown Number, which read simply read “E18” in cryptic but efficient simplicity. Hall instantly recognized the message as someone calling an emergency meeting at 1800 hours. She sat with a few minutes to spare, already knowing what was coming.

News of the FBI’s overnight raid on the “mythical” OMNI headquarters in Washington DC reached her ears, and came a few days earlier than it should have. Zero rarely liked – if “liking” was the appropriate term for whoever or _what_ ever Zero was – when things did not happen to specific instruction. In a normal job, getting work done early usually lead to praise or a promotion. But Zero’s anal-retentive expectations meant orders were to be done only when he specified, other than the standing kill-order for any Originals. Hall wasn’t sure what to expect, but an emergency meeting usually meant an order didn’t go according to plan, which usually preceded a lethal termination of a Regional Director.

Hall had her knowledge of an Original, that strange Abigail Sciuto, at the ready to make a move for DC’s position. She cross-referenced the woman’s information with known information from OMNI’s old roster information, and she matched the physical and psychological profile of the user _Forensigoth_ that had never been heard from again after the first breach of the OMNI platform _._ This confirmed all that Hall needed to hunt her down. With that piece in place, Hall began mapping her possible expansion into DC, including choosing (but not revealing) a successor to manage Dallas operations for her. She just needed to know Zero’s intention for DC, and if DC was to be terminated then she’d bring it up and offer to take her new position.

As her clock updated to 6 PM, Zero’s icon lit up and spoke in its usual generic male computer voice.

_“Status report.”_

A man’s garbled voice reported from Atlanta, _“Operations normal, no reports.”_

Hall steadied her voice with a false northeastern accent. “Operations normal, no reports.” She then braced herself, hoping for bad news from DC.

The scrambled female voice replied, _“Operations abnormal. Warehouse operation commenced ahead of schedule. Result, successful.”_

Hall made sure she was muted before she swore loudly and pounded her fist on her desk.

DC calmly continued, _“Federal agency statuses minimized.”_

Frankfurt, New York, and Zurich each had nothing to report, but going down the roster was the standard procedure even for emergency meetings.

Zero continued, _“DC, report federal agency status and detail operation result.”_

Agent Hall tapped her fingernails on her desk. She often noticed Zero repeating the same orders or having little to no variation in his phrasing. This, and his precision with orders, made her wonder if Zero might actually be a computer. Nonetheless, she wasn’t going to jeopardize her position by poking around that prospect. Speculation was best left for _The X-Files_.

DC continued reporting, _“Operation moved ahead of schedule to ensure our operatives within the FBI managed the raid. The FBI has already begun de-escalating our threat level and the NCIS investigation has been resolved. The information seized will negate any suspicions of activity outside of the U.S., which will halt the NSA investigation. Our data center for the virus has not been compromised.”_

There was a moment of silence before Zero gave his decision.

_“Abnormality accepted. Continue operations.”_

Hall grumbled to herself and sat back in her chair, knowing that now would not be the time to make her move.

Zero continued, _“DC, continue data center preparations. New York, continue implementation of virus to software providers. Zurich, Frankfurt, extend invitation for global auction to European market. In 6 weeks, each participant will present a target for demonstration. Auction will proceed 3 weeks following demonstration.”_

The conference call ended with the OMNI symbol displayed on the screen. Hall wondered if she shouldn’t try to engage Zero directly with this information, but she decided it was best to wait. Zero wouldn’t approve an infrastructure change just before a major sale unless DC’s reliability was completely destroyed. She had to look at the big picture, and that picture only required a little time. She had 2 months to get operatives of her own in place to undermine and take over DC, then she would move in for the sake of the organization. But in the meantime, she would keep Abigail Sciuto in her sights as her target as well as those on the NCIS team around her.

_To be continued…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Thank you all for reading! Don't worry, this is only the end of Act I. I originally anticipated only releasing 1 chapter per week giving myself more time to write Act II, but thanks to COVID-19 quarantining people I decided to release 2 chapters each week instead for all those who need new material to read. Despite quarantine I've actually been busier than ever, but I already have a few chapters of Act II written and will post once I've finalized them. In the meantime, thank you all for your reviews and I hope to have more as people keep reading. Stay safe out there, and I'll be back soon!


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Hey everyone, thank you so much for coming back for the second half of 0MN1! I know it's been a while, but my writing schedule got disrupted by working 3 jobs and having my own run-in with COVID-19. Thank you again, and stay safe!

0MN1 – ACT II

NCIS

Tim huffed dejectedly and leaned back in his writing chair. His right arm was in a sling from being dislocated by a steroid-enraged Marine earlier that day, and without it his free-writing simply couldn’t flow through his typewriter onto the page. He had been blocked for several days, and pressure was beginning to mount with a deadline given by his publisher to show at least _some_ progress on _Rock Hollow_. It was now 8 PM on Wednesday and he wanted to have a useable chapter written by the end of the week.

He finally got up and sauntered to his desk where his new first-generation iPhone was charging. The euphoria of having the latest innovative technology was still strong enough to cure his mood, though the deadline still nagged in the back of his mind. Thankfully, his dominant left hand was free to play with his new toy. The first thing he had done with the phone was take several dozen pictures with the phone’s camera, and his favorite subject was Riley.

He and Riley had been steadily seeing each other since they declared their love to each other one month ago. The bulk of their time together was usually on the weekends unless they were on-call, though they often were on-call at the same time, so it wasn’t difficult. The occasional weekday night found Riley reading in the overstuffed chair in Tim’s bedroom while Tim typed at his writing desk. When Tim would catch Riley particularly focused on his book, he liked to capture Riley’s various expressions using the phone’s camera. He was flipping through a couple of pictures of Riley when his phone buzzed with a new text message.

**Riley:** _Finally home. Blehhh._

Tim chuckled and clicked his contact to call him.

Riley answered gruffly and sleepily, _“Whoever this is better be offering free pizza.”_

“Hello to you, too,” Tim warily greeted.

_“Oh shit…”_ the man mumbled. _“Sorry Tim, I didn’t even look at my phone. I had such a fun day at work. Someone was trying to hide some documents in their paper shredder, and little ol’ me got stuck putting them back together. Then I had a thing with a friend from work and it took forever.”_

Tim nodded understandingly having had to sift through trash for the same result. “Feeling like a regular agent again?”

_“It does bring back memories,”_ Riley lamented sarcastically. _“OMNI’s been quiet around here for the last month, and the field offices now have people who know what to look for, so life is returning to normal. How about you? How was your day?”_

Tim looked uneasily at his arm in the sling. “It was fine,” he lied. “I’m having trouble writing, though. Still blocked.”

Riley groaned and hissed through the phone like he was stretching. _“No inspiration from the new cases? I thought you had an idea from the case with your missing Ranger Scout.”_

“Eh…” Tim shrugged. “The best inspiration I got from that was when you said, _‘If you keep talking about kids, I’m making you wear condoms again. I’m not ready to be an unwed mother.’_ ”

_“And I meant it,”_ he chuckled, sounding livelier than before.

“That’s not how it even wor- ugh never mind!” Tim scoffed and rolled his eyes with a smile.

_“Ah! I can hear it, you’re smiling now.”_

“Yeah,” Tim hummed happily. He enjoyed that Riley knew how to push his buttons in the right way to brighten his day.

_“So what are you up to? Free-writing to get the ideas flowing again?”_

“Uh…” Tim hesitated, and decided to push some of Riley’s buttons back. “Can’t exactly.”

_“Why not?”_ Riley asked. _“Out of paper?”_

“I uh…” he hesitated, “I’m not at home. I broke my arm.”

Riley snickered. _“Yeah, right. You’re just saying that to get out of riding with me on the motorcycle this weekend.”_

Tim quietly smiled to himself. He hadn’t intended to back down on the motorcycle ride, but it was an unexpected bonus of his injury. He sucked in a breath through his gritted teeth and conspicuously sighed.

_“Wait, really?”_ There was a rustling sound as Riley sat up. _“You- You’re sitting there with a broken arm but you called me because you have writer’s block?! When did this happen?!”_

Tim grinned. “We had a Marine juiced up on steroids that went on a rampage. It wasn’t a big deal, Ziva’s face got bruised, Tony’s nose broke, Gibbs probably has a broken rib, and they haven’t even set my arm yet.”

Tim had to hold the phone away from his ear when Riley yelled, _“WHAT?!”_

Riley started darting around in rapid fire. _“Alright, where are you? Which hospital? Do you need anything from your place? I can come get you and bring you home.”_

“Riley- Riley! Relax,” Tim laughed. “I’m just kidding! I’m kidding, I swear. I’m at home. My shoulder was dislocated but they already fixed it and gave me some meds. Everyone’s fine, I just can’t use my arm for a few days.”

There was a sound of Riley letting out a big breath and him falling back into a chair. _“I… just… HATE you,”_ he slowly replied.

Tim’s grin widened. “I got you good. That really woke you up!”

_“Yeah, you really got me,”_ Riley admitted and with a tired laugh. _“But if you try that one again, your arm had better be broken or I’ll come over there and lovingly break it myself.”_

“Deal,” Tim chuckled.

_“Seriously, though, are you okay?”_

“Yes, I promise. I’m just frustrated. I can’t free-write with only one hand, it doesn’t work right. I end up thinking too much about the typing itself, then all I can think about is the typewriter.”

Riley nodded. _“Well I’m up now, thanks to you. Do you want to come over and get a little change of writing scenery? I can type for you on my laptop and you can just talk. You can even bring over some things that you’ve written and I’ll skim through it. I’ll be your secretary, Mr. Author Man.”_

Tim considered it, thinking it might be nice to relax in Riley’s apartment but not convinced it would be the right place for writing. “I’ve never really done that before. I don’t know if I could really write without the typewriter. Maybe I could hand-write some pages of ideas, but probably not chapters.”

_“That’d be cool. I’d get to see what random thoughts run through that sexy head of yours. Plus, what kind of food can you eat with one hand that can be here in 45 minutes?”_

He snorted and chuckled. “Pizza?”

_“Atta’ boy. Love you.”_

“Love you too.”

OMNI

Riley absent-mindedly chewed a mouthful of pizza while skimming through a small stack of pages from _Rock Hollow_ Tim brought with him. Tim chose the chapter he wrote about Ryan Matthews, the character inspired by Riley, who stole the attention of forensic scientist Amy Sutton from Agent McGregor. He was always nervous waiting while someone read his work, though his own thoughts weren’t getting him anywhere and Riley was the only one he trusted to _not_ make fun of him for his story and character choices. He doodled on some blank printer paper using his left hand while he waited for Riley to finish.

“It’s…” Riley began tepidly, then pursed his lips. “It’s okay. Your free-writing has a lot of descriptive content that can be really useful. The chapter, the writing is okay… but I’m confused. I thought McGregor rejected Amy before for reasons unknown, and now he’s jealous that she’s attracted to someone else.”

Tim nodded. “I know. I wrote that thinking about when we came back from One Club. McGregor rejected her before I thought of your character, and I thought that maybe he would have second thoughts.”

“Well, what’s McGregor’s plot?”

“I… er… haven’t figured it out yet,” Tim sheepishly answered.

“No conflict or growth?” Riley asked pensively. He took a sip from his beer bottle then looked back at Tim. “Amy’s?”

Tim shook his head and sighed. “I haven’t even figured out who the killer is, and I barely have a useable crime since I scrapped the original chapters.”

“Ok, so we just need a little structure,” Riley offered. “Let’s leave the main plot out for a moment and focus on them. Assuming there would be a third book, you’ll need Amy and McGregor to work well together, meaning at the end of this one they need to be friends, lovers, or at the worst just be awkward around each other.”

“True,” Tim nodded and jotted down a few notes on the paper. “In my original chapters, part of the plot revolved around a couple of people trying to kill McGregor. Maybe we could use that again, as long as an obsessed fan doesn’t try to actually recreate the murders again.”

Riley scratched his chin while he thought. “Matthews could be gay, and instead of him and McGregor competing over Amy, it could be Amy and Matthews competing over McGregor while each trying to protect him.”

Tim frowned. “I wasn’t thinking McGregor would end up gay. I mean, I know Abby thought Amy should fall for someone gay and she did say McGregor and Amy were wrong for each other, but…”

“He doesn’t have to be gay, Tim,” Riley corrected. “You’re bisexual, why can’t he be?”

Tim avoided Riley’s eyes. “I… my publisher said it might be a good idea to avoid having any main characters being anything but straight because it could hurt the audience’s reception.” While it was the truth, Tim knew Riley’s fearlessness would see it as no excuse, and worried about what he’d think of him.

Riley cringed with disappointment as expected. “Really? She said that? Ugh. It should be what you want it to be. You’re the damn author. What do you want it to be?”

Tim sighed. “I don’t know. I just want it to work. She called this week checking up and I didn’t know what to tell her, so I told her about this. This is all I have that I think could even work as a story, and even then there’s nothing to go on before or after.”

Riley bounced his leg while he looked over the chapter again, looking over the chapter. A strange look of intrigue crossed his face, and he quickly flipped through the few pages of free-writing.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Tim sat up. “What?”

“One Club. You never wrote about it in a chapter, but you have it in your free-writing as Club APEX,” Riley explained. “What if we held true to the Matthews character, but made him a woman? What if Agent Matthews was actually a woman that they meet at Club APEX, then Amy and Matthews compete for McGregor, and Matthews wins?”

Tim read through it in his mind. “We could have Amy see McGregor differently while being with someone like Matthews and that would let them stay friends, but… that was the character I made for you. If I change it… it won’t be you anymore.”

Riley smiled. “It’s okay. Just because I’m your boyfriend doesn’t mean you don’t owe me a character, Tim. You need to focus on what will make this work.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. Do you still want her to be like you?” Tim asked, stunned and almost feeling guilty for compromising on his vision of Riley in his own story.

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about getting it done,” Riley simplified, though his face betrayed that he wasn’t completely satisfied with the idea. “But there you have it, a beginning at Club APEX where they meet, conflict for McGregor on who to choose and growth because of it, then an end where he chooses Matthews. That’s a character plot.”

Tim leapt up from the table and engulfed Riley in a grateful hug, which pained his shoulder but he didn’t care. He kissed him tenderly and brushed their foreheads together. “Thank you, so much.”

Riley smiled and gave him another quick peck. “Alright, get writing before you lose it again.”

Tim darted back to the chair and started scrawling out notes and outlines for his newly developed plot. Riley padded around the apartment cleaning up after dinner and settled in the chair across from Tim with the original _Deep Six_ from his shelf. Occasionally Riley got up to get them other drinks or more paper for Tim, but the hours ticked on with them at the table.

Tim finally set his pen down and yawned heartily. “11:30 already?”

Riley looked around to see the clock on the oven then stretched. Looking at the small pile of papers he observed, “Looks like you’ve got your mojo back.” He stood up and walked around to embrace Tim from behind while he sat.

Tim sighed with happy exhaustion and reminded him, “Thanks to your help. Getting away from my normal space helped get the ideas flowing.”

Riley hummed happily and rested his chin on Tim’s head, then breathed a small sigh.

Tim adjusted his sling with a quick twinge of pain in his shoulder. He noticed that Riley seemed quiet. “What?”

“I just had a bit of a thought,” he replied quietly. “What if we got a little further away?”

“What do you mean?”

Riley walked around and leaned back against the side of the table with his arms folded. “Do you want to come to the cabin with me this weekend?”

Tim’s eyes went wide. They hadn’t talked much about Riley’s cabin other than the weekend after the OMNI warehouse raid when Riley went there by himself. Tim never asked about it because he knew how important it was for Riley, the cabin being his most personal space, and how much it meant that Riley was asking him now.

“Wow… I’d love to. But, are you sure?” he asked.

Riley smiled. “Yeah. You just let me be part of a really special thing for you, and I think we’re at the point in our relationship where it’s safe for me to do the same. I love you, and I want you to come with me. We’ll leave Friday night, we’ll grab food from the store up there for us to cook, and you can use the place as a bit of a writing retreat. Your arm will be out of the sling so I can take you up to the mountain road on the motorcycle.” At the look on Tim’s face, Riley counter-offered, “Okay, we can drive up there, but I’m telling you the ride and the views up there are incredible.”

Tim took Riley’s hand in his and smiled at the thought of Riley letting him into his life that far. The thought of being on the motorcycle was a slight buzzkill, but at least Riley had dialed it down to being an option. “Will there be room for my typewriter?”

“Of course,” Riley replied with a grin. “But there’s no TV or internet. Just books and a tiny bit of cell reception.”

“Perfect,” Tim whispered and stood to kiss Riley sweetly on the lips.

Riley looked back at the time on the oven, then back to Tim. “It’s late. Are you staying?”

Tim frowned. “I don’t know, did I leave a clean suit here last time?”

“Maybe,” Riley replied with a seductive smirk. “Why don’t you come and take a look with me?”

A knowing smile crossed Tim’s face as his eyes narrowed at Riley. “I have a feeling if I go into that bedroom I won’t be making it out of there.”

“Picked up on that, did you?” he coyly answered while tugging Tim towards the bedroom without any further objection.

NCIS

Tim slowly drifted in and out of sleep. His right arm itched in its sling as he slept on his left side to keep from irritating his shoulder. He stirred slightly and felt Riley’s arm squeeze him from behind. Tim smiled sleepily and remembered he was in Riley’s bed, with Riley’s arm slipped under his shirt and being spooned by him, which felt interesting as Riley was smaller than him. As he opened his eyes he could tell it was morning by how bright the room was. One downside of Riley’s clean white walls was that when the blackout curtains were open, the morning sunlight reflected brightly throughout the whole apartment. As he was coming to, he smelled an odor from his armpits and put a shower at the top of his to-do list. He shrugged and rotated his shoulder without much pain, and remembered that he could finally take off the sling. Riley whined with a tired groan when Tim sat up, but Tim hushed him.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered. “Just getting a shower.”

Riley still had his eyes closed as he hummed agreeably and sprawled himself out over the rest of the bed.

Tim padded to the bathroom and started the shower running. As much as he would’ve liked to sleep naked like Riley, he was glad for wearing an undershirt so the strap from his sling wouldn’t dig into his skin. He gingerly removed the sling and his undershirt, not wanting to risk undoing whatever healing his shoulder had done. Stepping into the shower, the hot water felt good on his skin and the heat seeping into his muscles felt glorious. He started soaping himself up, but the glass door slowly opened and he felt the steam start to escape.

“Think I’d miss this?” Riley flirted and pressed his hands onto Tim’s chest. “Someone’s gotta get all those hard-to-reach spots.”

Tim smiled and wrapped Riley in his first two-armed hug and kiss in days. Without breaking the kiss, Riley slipped the soap out of Tim’s hand and started sliding the bar in small circles up Tim’s back, pressing and massaging as he went. Tim moaned with relieved pleasure and mimicked the movements with his hands on Riley’s back. Riley slid repeated his motions to the top of Tim’s back and shoulders, then went back down to his buttocks and started soaping around the cheeks and into Tim’s crack. He slowly backed Tim into the cold stone wall of the shower.

Tim giggled and gasped at the cold sensations alarming his body. Riley started nibbling down Tim’s neck as hot water continued showering down on them. He slid his face over Tim’s chest, letting his morning stubble scratch over the wet skin. Tim weaved his fingers into Riley’s hair and pulled him closer. Riley tugged on Tim’s nipple with his teeth and continued downward soaping around Tim’s thighs and up to his chest as he went. Finally kneeling, he reached his target and let a hot breath ignite the sensations around Tim’s awakening cock.

Riley began kissing and licking his way around the base of the shaft, and massaged Tim’s thighs apart. He ran a soapy finger along Tim’s crack, crossing the rosebud and pressing against it as he passed. Tim’s legs tensed at the unfamiliar contact and he pressed himself harder against the wall to stay standing. Riley looked up at him lustfully then flicked his tongue over the head of the cock. Tim shuddered with anticipation and his hand gripped Riley’s hair tighter. Riley smiled smugly knowing how he was stimulating Tim, then slicked his finger with more soap and pressed it gently into Tim. Tim gasped and his legs buckled momentarily.

“Relax,” Riley whispered, and kissed his way down Tim’s throbbing cock.

Tim whimpered as he felt Riley’s finger massage his sphincter. Riley had hinted towards wanting to do this in the past but had never done it. Tim had fingered himself on his own before, but it felt much better with Riley at the helm. Riley gently chewed on Tim’s navel as water trailed down the skin, then flickered his tongue across Tim’s scrotum. As Riley pulsed his finger into Tim’s hole, Tim felt a small burning sensation and saw a quick flash of Gibbs’ eyes staring intensely into his own, making him gasp, wince, and slap his hand against the shower wall to stabilize himself.

Riley pulled himself out and slicked his finger again, then as he re-entered Tim he engulfed Tim’s cock down to the hilt. Tim pushed the image out of his mind and focused on the sensations in his body, feeling his orgasm building within. He let his hand drift with Riley’s head as Riley rolled his tongue back and forth along Tim’s cock. Riley abandoned the bar of soap and was furiously stroking himself with his free hand. His finger brushed over the spot near Tim’s prostate, causing Tim to yelp and buckle.

“Riley, wai- gonna-”

Tim felt his balls tighten to him as the finger inside him seemed to be forcing out his orgasm. He tried to press Riley’s head away, but Riley stayed on his target. Fire coursed through him as the spasms and involuntary grunts took over his body, and Tim shot load after load of pent-up cum into Riley’s mouth. Riley swallowed each pulse of his lover’s cum and kept his finger pressed against Tim’s prostate, relishing in the taste and letting it push him over the edge of his own orgasm. He moaned around Tim’s cock as his body quaked, and he pressed his hand up to Tim’s chest to steady himself.

Their breathing slowly became even as Riley withdrew. Tim chuckled and pulled Riley up from the floor into a deep kiss. They stayed closely pressed together as Riley nuzzled against Tim’s cheek. Tim felt dazed and his body seemed to melt with relief.

“Damn, you’re good,” he breathed into Riley’s ear.

Riley smiled. “Damn, you’re delicious. Can’t keep my hands off you.”

Tim blushed and kissed Riley tenderly again. “Want any help?”

“I came just after you. Just have to actually shower now,” he chuckled.

Tim kissed him again then stepped out to dry off. As he toweled himself, he watched Riley lather himself up with soap. He remembered the flash of Gibbs’s eyes, and he felt slightly worried. He thought he was getting over the attraction to Gibbs and hadn’t thought of him that way for some time. After re-equipping his sling he padded out of the bathroom towards the bed and he felt a twitch in his sphincter. Riley had definitely hinted at wanting to top him for a while, and Tim wanted him to but there never seemed to be a good time to try it.

_‘The cabin,’_ Tim thought to himself as he crossed the bedroom to get into his overnight bag. He knew he’d need to experience it with Riley to make the memory of Gibbs go away permanently, and the getaway to the cabin was the perfect opportunity. He mentally resolved himself to making it happen and getting the last vestiges of Gibbs out of his mind, and with a plan he began to feel better.

He sat on the edge of the bed and dug through his backpack looking for a t-shirt. When he found it, he realized it was an old one from his last sleepover at Riley’s. “Hey, do you mind if I borrow a shirt?”

“Go for it,” Riley yelled, leaning over the sink as he began shaving.

Tim had only seen Riley’s closet with the door open but had never actually gone through it. On one side there were several button-down shirts and familiar suits that were undoubtedly for work. On the other there were several colorful t-shirts and sweaters neatly hung up, many of them had different rock bands or pop culture brands. Tim was surprised to find a gray MIT shirt that he was sure was his own. He chuckled to himself wondering if he had left it there once or if Riley had sentimentally “borrowed” it without saying so. He figured it was the latter. Returning the favor in kind, he found the green shirt from an Irish pub that Riley wore on their first date and slipped it on.

He retrieved his “backup suit” that he recently started leaving at Riley’s for the spontaneous overnight. As he was emptying the pockets of yesterday’s pants, his wallet fell between the mattress and the bed frame. Reaching down to retrieve it his fingers wrapped around something cold and rough, and he pulled up a .45-caliber Colt Defender compact pistol. Its polished gray slide was engraved with _Semper Fi_ towards the tip. The motto seemed out of place for something of Riley’s, though knowing Riley slept with an extra gun by his pillow added a dangerous mystique that Tim found quite erotic.

Riley strolled out from the bathroom with a towel around his waist looking fresh and renewed from the shower and the events during it. “Found something you like?” he asked.

Tim was startled and quickly turned around. “Oh, yeah. I accidentally found this,” he displayed the gun. “ _Semper Fi_? I would’ve pictured you with a Han Solo quote more than something from the Marines.”

Riley snorted. “Maybe it would if I had a choice. Gibbs gave this to me as a spare years ago, so of course it had to have some kind of Marine angle to it. I think he chose the short-barreled one to make fun of me, but it’s really nice and light even if it does have the .45 kick to it. Feel it out, you might like it.”

Tim curiously gripped the weapon and unloaded it for safety. He felt a small bit of nervousness knowing the gun was a gift from Gibbs, and surprised that Gibbs never gave any of the team something like this. The grip was comfortable and the weapon was very lightweight even fully loaded.

“I’ve never seen Gibbs give a gun as a gift. The most he’s given me was a clicker tied to Tony’s computer after he threw his tantrum over the computers.” He quickly looked around to make sure Gibbs wasn’t about to appear behind him, even though he wasn’t at work, then smiled and handed the gun to Riley.

“Yeah,” Riley paused as he looked fondly at the gun. “He gave me this after I passed his version of the Marines’ sniper school exam. I was going to give it back when I left, but he wanted me to keep it.”

“Ah, right, you mentioned he trained you before. He never offered to train any of us like that, but I think I’m okay without it. Between him and Ziva we have more than enough firepower on the team.” Tim thought about it and a thought occurred to him. “Erm… why do you sleep with it next to the bed?”

Riley smiled slyly as he put it back in its holster and placed it on the bed. “A boy like me can’t be too careful. I started carrying it regularly when things with OMNI were going sideways, and I still carry it as a spare for work. What do you use as your spare?”

Tim grimaced at the question, unsure how Riley would react and not liking the idea of Riley in personal danger. “Well… I don’t.”

Riley’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You’re on Gibbs’ team and work with a Mossad agent and neither of them have made you carry a spare?!”

“It’s never come up!” Tim reasoned. “I’ve never lost my weapon or been out of ammo. I’ve only had to borrow Gibbs’ spare revolver once.”

A small, sly smile crept across Riley’s face as started dressing. “Well, I know what _your_ birthday present will be.”

Tim smiled and continued getting dressed for work. “Trained by a Marine sniper, sleeping with a gun next to your pillow, if I didn’t know better I’d say you’re a secret agent like those kids said after all.” He continued smiling, but still had a seed of concern planted.

Riley chuckled evilly and straddled Tim as he sat, carefully minding the sling. “Guess that means you’ll have to _blow_ my cover.” He started nibbling below Tim’s ear and tugging at his shirt buttons.

“Ril- wait,” Tim gasped at the electric contact as Riley continued his sensual assault. “We-we just got dressed, we have to g-ohhhhhh… okay, ten minutes.”

NCIS

McGee had an unbreakable smile as he exited the elevator to the squad room. His bag was slung over his left shoulder as his right was still in the sling. His shoulder didn’t hurt much, but he made sure to have a bottle of aspirin in his bag and took one just after leaving Riley’s. Tony still had a bandage on his broken nose and was studying it in the reflection on his monitor, while Ziva was at her desk applying cover-up to the bruise around her eye. Over the past month there was no hiding that McGee grew happier as his relationship progressed, which led Tony to try to play his hand that he was in on Riley and McGee’s prank all along and they had all tricked Ziva. Ziva, of course, knew better but simply rolled her eyes and never betrayed McGee’s confidence regarding their conversation about Gibbs.

Gibbs had kept a small distance from McGee for a few days following the warehouse raid, though returned to his usual head-slaps whenever McGee went on a tech tangent or slacked off. McGee also noticed a few more opportune jabs from Gibbs towards Tony or Ziva, which at least for him was entertaining. There were a few more concerned glances than usual since McGee was injured, but Gibbs didn’t appear uncomfortable around him anymore and even managed a few smiles while keeping the same physical proximity that he kept for the other agents.

As McGee rounded the bullpen, he kept his eyes open for anything unusual indicating that his desk was tampered with. With life returning to normal he knew he was overdue for a Tony prank, but upon sitting at his desk he seemed to be safe for another day. He looked over to Gibbs at his desk to make sure that there wasn’t any sign of another computer malfunction, then proceeded to log into his computer as normal. The busy silence was split by Gibbs’ desk phone, instantly drawing all of their attention.

“Yeah?” he answered. He put on an extra air of interest in the phone call to make the other agents freeze in anticipation for his own amusement. “Okay.” He hung up the phone and quickly breezed to the stairs up to the Director’s office.

Tony let out a sigh. “I really hope he’s not coming back with a case,” he whined. “We look like those football players who literally got run over in the homecoming game.”

Ziva rolled her eyes. “I’ll lend you some of my makeup if that’ll make you feel better about your nose.”

“Guys don’t wear makeup, Ziva,” Tony replied. “But imagine if cops came to your door looking like the suspect took _them_ down. Doesn’t inspire much confidence, does it?”

McGee grinned as he saw an opportunity. “Better get used to it, Tony. That kind of nose damage might need a plastic surgeon to fix it.”

Tony turned around to glare at McGee. “You know, Probie, I had half a mind to put superglue on your keyboard this morning, but I didn’t. And do you know why?” he huffed.

“Because I have this?” McGee replied cockily as he opened one of his drawers and pulled out his bottle of superglue solvent. Only after picking it up did he notice the slight stickiness on the bottle, and found it sticking to his hand. “TONY!”

Tony leaned back in his chair and grinned with satisfaction at his work. “Ah, that does take the sting away.”

Ziva giggled in her chair. “Uh, Tony?” She pointed towards McGee.

He looked at her, then over to McGee who was inexplicably smiling. McGee casually peeled the bottle away from his hand with little resistance and set it on his desk. Tony’s smile fell flat and his eyes shot open.

McGee’s smile only widened as he explained, “I replaced your superglue with Elmer’s school glue two weeks ago.”

Tony grumbled and started powering on his computer. “You ruin everything.”

“Come on, Tony,” Ziva consoled him. “Face it, he won this one.”

A few minutes later Gibbs strode into the bullpen past their desks, holding a folder that he dropped onto his desk and motioned the team to him. “Master-at-Arms Force at Pax River found intercepted a shipment of cocaine, we need to find out who’s running it. McGee, get Abby and collect evidence from any unsolved cases related to Pax River. DiNozzo, David, start pulling personnel files on all active duty officers.” He handed out the papers with their assignments.

McGee quickly read the case and evidence reference numbers, then proceeded to the elevator. He wondered if he should tell Abby about Riley bringing him to the cabin, or if she even knew about it since Riley mentioned he didn’t tell many people. He figured he’d tell her that they’re going away for the weekend, and if she knew about the cabin then she’d say. Leaving the elevator and walking into her lab, her back was to him as she started putting on a black wrist brace on her right arm. McGee noticed a thick white gauze pad taped to the bottom of her wrist as she put on the brace.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked and stepped forward.

She was startled as she spun around. “Oh! Tim, god I didn’t even hear you. You’ve been taking lessons from Gibbs!”

He looked at her with concern. “No, I just saw that. What happened? Did you get hurt?

“Huh? Oh, that? I’m fine, just… er…” she stammered as she raised her hand, “… My wrist was bugging me after that last bowling night with the nuns, and it turns out I just strained a tendon.”

Hearing that it wasn’t serious put him at ease, but she seemed a little jittery and hesitant to him. “Oh wow. I hope it’s not serious.”

She shook her head. “Well no, we… I just had to get a little surgery to fix it before it got worse. Otherwise if I left it alone it would’ve led to carpal tunnel, then that would’ve really had me out of work for a while. I mean, could you imagine me working with only one hand for a few weeks?” She chuckled nervously then looked at his arm, still in the sling. “Oh, yeah, I guess you could. Well, anyway, what’s up?”

He held up the evidence list, decidedly ignoring her squirrely responses. “Gibbs wants to get some case evidence out from storage. New case, checking for any correlation.”

“Alright, let’s march!” she replied cheerfully and headed for the elevator. “What’s new with you?”

“I made some progress on the book. Riley gave me a couple ideas.”

She giggled. “That’s good. Did you make him a stripper or a full-on hooker in the story?”

He rolled his eyes and sarcastically quipped, “Neither. But I think you’ll like what I’m doing. We decided Matthews should be a woman, and she and Amy compete for McGregor while on a case.”

“Oooh, that’s new,” she remarked with interest. “And ‘she’ ends up with Matthews?”

“I’m considering it, but I thought he’d end up with Amy so they’d continue working well together.”

She shook her head and looked skeptical. “I don’t know, I still think he and Amy are wrong for each other.”

He shrugged as they exited the elevator into the evidence garage. “Well, I’ve got some time to write it out and see how the characters flow with the new chapters. We’re going away next weekend to help clear my head and get some inspiration.”

Abby smiled knowingly. “Oh yeah. ‘Inspiration.’ That’s totally what you’ve been up to when you’ve spent the last few weekends together.”

“Hey! That’s…” he paused as he remembered the morning, “Well that’s not all we do. This is time away from my usual space and will at least get me out of this writer’s block.”

He wasn’t sure about mentioning the cabin since Riley never said if he told Abby about it. The way Riley talked about it, McGee didn’t get the impression the weekend would be just about sex. Abby picked out a small crate with several evidence bags inside and they each took one side with their good hands, then they made their way back to the lab.

Abby grinned as the elevator doors closed. “Well, I hope you have fun, but you better have Riley teach you some good pick-up lines. McGregor’s gonna need them if he wants a chance with my girl Amy.”

McGee chuckled. “I’ll be sure to tell him you said that. I just hope I can be so busy with writing that he won’t make me go on the motorcycle.”

“Why not?” Abby asked curiously. “It’s so much fun. It’s like… it’s like you’re a dog sticking your head out of the car window, just letting the movement and the wind blow right through you.”

“I’m more concerned about a car blowing right through us,” he countered.

Abby scoffed. “Oh please. It’s not like you’ll be having to ride the bike all by yourself. And besides, Riley’s done this before. He’d teach you what to do and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“Eh…” McGee groaned worriedly. “I just keep remembering being in traction after getting in an accident with my Camaro, and that was a car!”

She shrugged as they made it to the lab. “Well, you know if you tell him a flat ‘no’ that he won’t pressure you.”

“I know, and he did say it was an option. I don’t want to let him down though, I want to impress him. It’s just risky. This weekend is kinda a big deal for us.”

“Why? Is he introducing you to friends or something?”

_‘So Riley didn’t tell her about the cabin.’_ McGee thought to himself. He paused to think about her question. “I don’t know. He didn’t say he was, but he could have another trick up his sleeve.”

“Goes without saying with Riley,” Abby noted while snapping on a glove. “Be prepared for anything.”

McGee nodded and agreed, but before leaving he turned back to her. “You’re sure you’re okay though, right?”

“Huh?” she looked curiously back at him.

He pointed to her arm. She smiled understandingly and walked over to him, though had to negotiate giving him a one-armed hug with both of them injured in one way or another.

“Trust me,” she assured him and held up her braced wrist. “With this taken care of, I feel better than I have in a long time.”

“Good,” he smiled and walked back upstairs to report to Gibbs.

After he left, Abby tapped her foot while thinking for a moment, then turned back to her computer and opened up her calendar. She went back to the previous day’s list and found an appointment marked ‘Tattoo Excision – Dr. Metzger,’ and promptly deleted it.

“Just in case,” she mumbled to herself.

NCIS

Tim typed feverishly on his typewriter that night, laying out a scene between Agent McGregor and Agent Matthews based on Tim’s first date with Riley. His arm was still in in its sling, but with the typewriter moved to the edge of his desk he was able to type with both hands without aggravating his shoulder. When he reached the bottom of the page he quickly scanned it for any problems and added it to his binder. Looking at the pages beforehand, he realized he left the pages of hand-written freewriting at Riley’s apartment.

He picked up his phone and tapped Riley’s icon to call him. The line kept ringing, but there was no answer. Tim thought that was odd as Riley had texted him earlier saying that he was home. He tried again and Riley finally answered.

_“Hey, that was weird. I was hitting ‘answer’ but my phone wouldn’t pick up.”_

Tim smiled. “It’s a sign. You need to upgrade iPhone.”

_“Oh my god,”_ Riley chuckled. _“You’ve had it for maybe three days and you are addicted. iPhones are just a fad, and BlackBerry will regain its status as king.”_

“Sounds like somebody’s jealous,” Tim teased.

_“Well I think I’m jealous of anything that gets to sit in your pocket next to your package all day,”_ he replied coolly.

Tim felt a stirring in his cock at the suggestion. “I guess I should be jealous of your wallet in your back pocket then?”

Riley dropped his voice to a seductive tone. _“If you’re fishing for an invitation over here to come grab my… wallet… you’ve got one.”_

“Not quite,” Tim laughed. “But it’s nice to know the door’s open even though I was just there. I’m actually on a good roll with typing up some content and I realized I never took the pages from last night. Could you send them to me?”

_“Oh great! Yeah, give me a minute to scan them and I’ll email them over.”_

He heard quiet rustling as Riley got out his laptop and logged in. There was a moment of silence from Riley as the scanner whirred the background.

_“I swear, my electronics are rebelling,”_ Riley admitted sheepishly. _“Sorry it’s taking a while.”_

“It’s okay,” Tim smiled. “How was your day?”

_“Weird. I had an odd feeling in my gut about something earlier, but it turned out to be nothing.”_

“OMNI again?” Tim asked worriedly.

_“I thought so, but it wasn’t,”_ Riley hummed. _“It’s funny, before I couldn’t wait to not be investigating them anymore. Now I almost expect them around every corner. There, check your email.”_

Tim rose from his writing desk and crossed over to his computer. Seeing Riley’s email he opened the document and started printing it out the pages. Also attached was a link to a motorcycle website about being the passenger on the motorcycle.

“I see you’re dropping another hint,” he replied while looking through his email.

_“Mmhmm,”_ Riley hummed. _“Just in case. But anyway, how was work today? Did you dislocate your other shoulder?”_

Tim rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Not today, but there’s always tomorrow. Found some drugs moving through a Navy base, no solid leads but thankfully no one ran from us either. It’s a good way to end the week while half our team is injured in some way. Even Abby had a wrist injury from bowling.” Tim had a quick thought and started searching for getaway cabins in Virginia. Most were small 1-2 bedroom log cabin shacks with wood-burning fireplaces on various campgrounds. They looked cozy, but he remembered his conversation with Abby and wondered what Riley had in mind for them. “Oh, that reminds me, what are our plans when we’re up in the cabin this weekend?”

Riley thought for a moment. _“I didn’t really have much of a plan, other than you writing and me cleaning up the place. I’m hoping the skies stay clear, though. One thing I love doing up there is watching the stars from the hammock.”_

Tim notched up an eyebrow. “You have a hammock? That sounds very relaxing.”

_“And it fits two,”_ he replied in his sultry voice. _“It’ll get cold at night, but I have a nice blanket or two to keep us warm.”_

A smile spread across Tim’s face at the thought of curling up outside with Riley. “I’m beginning to really like the sound of this trip.”

_“Good, because we’re leaving tomorrow after work. Try to keep yourself busy though, otherwise the day will drag on forever.”_

“Ugh, you’re right,” Tim agreed. He pulled the printed chapter from the printer and remembered something else he wanted to write. “Alright, well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

_“Me too. You gonna write a little more?”_

“Yeah, just for another hour or two.”

_“Or four,”_ Riley snickered.

Tim grinned and shook his head.

_“Get all those ideas ready for some hardcore typing this weekend. Goodnight babe, love you.”_

“Love you too. Night.”

He hung up and walked over to his writing desk, then began feeding a piece of paper into his typewriter. On his computer, the screen was still open showing the document Riley sent him. The cursor added a couple of empty lines to the end of the document, then slowly the characters ‘0MN1’ typed themselves onto the screen. Several black command boxes flashed on the screen with command lines quickly running themselves, then the boxes and the 0MN1 text in the document disappeared.


	17. Chapter 16

NCIS

Friday evening came slowly for Tim as the team spent most of the day in court defending a case. The bright side was that with little physical activity required, he was able to finally able to get his right arm out of the sling just in time for the weekend with Riley. When he got home, he hurriedly starting packing but made sure to stick to his list of things he needed, including his typewriter and plenty of paper. The weather station reported clear skies until Saturday night with cool late-April temperatures, so he made sure to pack warm clothes and dressed in a zip-up sweater and jeans. He wasn’t sure if he’d need extra sweaters or blankets, but the way Riley talked about the place he figured there would at least be a fireplace and wouldn’t be too drafty. He was contemplating whether he should shower first or wait until he got there when his phone started buzzing with Riley’s name.

“Hey,” he answered.

_“Saddle up!”_ Riley cheered through phone. _“I’m outside.”_

Tim smiled and picked up his duffel bag. “Okay, I’m on my way.”

When he got to the parking lot he saw Riley’s black truck parked to the side with a small trailer carrying his motorcycle hitched to the back. At first he whimpered when he saw the bike, but getting a closer look at it he found it wasn’t as intimidating as he thought it would be. Tim had read what Riley sent him (though didn’t tell him in case it encouraged him too much) and from what he could tell the bike was just a small cruising bike, not a racing bike like he imagined Riley would have. It was definitely old but was in good condition. The white text reading “Honda Shadow” was polished brightly against the dark red of the fuel tank. Riley was all smiles as Tim loaded his duffel bag into the back seats while a country song was playing from the radio.

Tim didn’t recognize the song, but rolled his eyes after he heard the words ‘shotgun’ and ‘cheating husband’ in the same sentence. He chuckled, “After listening to your _Blink-182_ collection, I never would’ve pictured you as a country boy. But right now, you’re the perfect picture of one with your truck, music, and motorcycle.”

Riley reached over to give him a kiss then laughed. “I am a man of many musical interests,” he replied as he put the truck in gear. “You ready for this?”

“I think so,’ Tim answered with a smile. “You look very excited.”

Riley grinned as the cool wind blew in through the truck window. “I am. I’m also a little nervous, you’re about to find out a lot more about me. I’m warning you now, I’ll probably have a lot of stories to tell about the place.”

“What’s it like?” Tim asked, wondering how much could’ve happened in a small camping cabin.

“Well the plants are kinda dead because I haven’t been there to water them, and it might be a little musty since I haven’t been there in a few of weeks,” Riley pensively went down a mental checklist, “but once we crack a window or two it’ll be fine. I have a bit of dusting to do and some cleaning around the kitchen, oh and you may need to let the water run for a while before it gets hot. I’ll get a fire set up for us for tonight, too.”

Tim placed his hand on Riley’s thigh. “Hey, don’t work too hard. This is your getaway, too.”

“I actually like taking care of this place,” Riley admitted proudly. “The innocent little projects and chores are a great break from normal work.”

They drove for two hours headed southwest, chatting back and forth and swapping CDs from the car’s player. Tim teased Riley for still having a large binder of CDs instead of consolidating to an iPod, though Riley insisted that the old ways were the best. The sun was setting as they reached Bentonville, Virginia where they made a quick stop in a small grocery store. Tim didn’t know how much room the cabin’s kitchen would have so he selected sparingly, but Riley’s selections made it seem like they would be eating every second of the weekend. Riley also picked out a couple of small potted plants to Tim’s surprise, having never seen Riley tend to a plant.

They drove for a few miles, passing over a grated metal bridge that spanned over a dried river, then up several foothills, until they finally pulled into what looked like a long driveway. The sun had dropped below the horizon, but the pink-and-blue sky still left enough light for Tim to see what they were approaching as they neared the top of the driveway.

“Uh, Riley?” Tim’s jaw started to hang as he saw the structure. “This isn’t a cabin.”

The driveway led to a large house that overlooked the valley. The house was two stories tall with a colorful stone basement exposed by the slope of the hill and grayish-blue siding covering the rest. It had a deck with white railing wrapping around three sides of the house on the first floor and a 2-car garage on the fourth side. Two stone chimneys jutted up on either side of the central section of the house while two small extensions continued out from the house on the left and right. On the lawn in front, a wide hammock stood between the house and a fenced-off area that housed a patio and what looked like a pool with its cover still on.

Tim’s mouth was locked open in shock as he looked at Riley. “You said it was a cabin, not a friggin’ mansion!”

“It’s not _that_ big,” Riley replied humbly as he led them inside.

The rear patio was accessible from the driveway and had what seemed to be the “front” door, as well as a cast-iron fire pit surrounded by tarp-covered furniture. The door opened into a room with a few comfy chairs facing an enormous kitchen, the most beautiful Tim had ever seen. The cabinetry was polished wood and glass panes, the dark granite countertops contrasted the light brown stone backsplash, bright yellow-gold paint, and stainless-steel appliances – including a coffee maker that was bigger than the one at Tim’s apartment. If Tim thought Riley’s apartment was missing its share of color, this house was where it went. There were artful pictures and paintings on the walls that Tim was too stunned to study in detail yet. Riley grinned as he watched Tim’s reactions while leading him through the house.

The kitchen led to a living room which took Tim’s breath away. A set of six large windows facing east stretched up the wall to the second story ceiling, opening the room to a vast view of the valley and mountains with the remnants of the sunset just barely shrouding the stars dotting the sky. Two covered couches were placed facing each other, one against the windows facing in and the other facing out through the windows. On the coffee table, which also had a furniture cover on it, was a vase with a dried-out flowers that Riley quickly swiped away. The wood floors showed age but were well-maintained, but together with the wood-paneled ceiling and different colors brightly painted on each wall, the house radiated life.

Riley flicked on the overhead lights, and Tim saw a large San Francisco Pride rainbow flag spread over a space above the windows near the ceiling, as well as a mirror perched above the stone fireplace on one side of the room. On the other wall above a small desk he saw a tall, thin tree painted in gold with framed pictures lining the branches like leaves. He looked more closely at the pictures and saw Riley’s face in several, as well as what looked like him at a young age with a tall man with jet-black hair and larger glasses.

Riley smiled and embraced Tim from behind while they looked at the pictures. “That’s my dad. I was eleven when we got this place. He always called it ‘the cabin’ so I guess I just always thought that’s what it was. We’d keep doing little maintenance projects here or there as they came up, and every couple of years we’d add something big like adding the garage or the pool. In high school we’d have my friends come to help us, so we’d have a little army of workers, then we’d all enjoy the benefits after. Oh, and this picture here is my mom, it’s one of the only ones I have of her.”

He pointed to a picture of his dad with a shorter woman, who shared the same mischievous smile Riley often carried. Riley continued on with other pictures of friends from high school and college showing summers at the house, and a few with the designer friend Tim recognized from the picture at the apartment. Tim noticed what looked like an empty nail on one of the lower branches where a picture could be hung, but his attention drew to the a rectangular shape with a thinner layer of dust inside than outside, like a picture had been there but was removed not too long ago. He was too elated to worry about it now and filed it into his memory for later, then looked back around at the rest of the living room while Riley started pulling covers off the furniture.

“My god, Riley, how do you afford this?” he asked.

Riley chuckled while rolling up the covers. “I told you my dad worked in Wall Street, right? He left a trust to maintain the house and pay its taxes. I wanted to make it on my own, but he knew that I’d never be able to afford this place on a government agent salary. All we wanted was to keep the house in the family after all the work we put into it, so the money was his way of helping me keep the legacy.” 

He took Tim’s hand and led him up the stairs overlooking the living room, all while chattering on about what a certain room looked like before it was refinished or repainted. There were two bedrooms upstairs that shared a large white-and-wood bathroom. The shower had more knobs than Tim knew could have functions for a shower. The open bedroom Riley showed him had a queen-sized bed with a headboard made of thick wooden branches. An entire wall of the bedroom was devoted to another bookshelf that was even larger than the one Riley had at his apartment. He showed him the rest of the house which had two more bedrooms and a bathroom in the basement, along with an office where Tim could set up his typewriter.

Tim groaned with pleasure at the relief he felt in the shower. From what he had seen of cabins online, he expected to be showering outside that weekend. He was extremely grateful for Riley’s understatement about the “cabin” and now had significantly higher expectations for the weekend. After drying off and getting dressed he found Riley downstairs in the kitchen twirling a knife between his fingers.

“Hey,” Riley greeted with a smile. “Come on, we’re going outside.”

Riley grabbed one of the apples he’d bought from the store and a blanket from a nearby closet, then started marching outside with Tim behind him. Tim was glad for packing an extra-thick sweater as the cold night was setting in. Riley led them down the lawn to the hammock, where Tim gingerly navigated on first and then Riley joined him, snuggling up close while draping the blanket over them both. Riley sliced off pieces of the apple and shared with Tim while they looked up into the cloudless night sky.

“This is…” Tim breathed, “Incredible. I haven’t looked up at the stars like this in a long time.”

“Me either,” Riley sighed contently. “Back in DC I can never seem to escape the glow of city lights. I actually thought of moving out here once, but then all this would’ve seemed less special.”

Tim smiled and tightened his grip around Riley. “I’m glad you didn’t, then we wouldn’t have met.”

Riley grinned and let his head rest against Tim’s chest. “Wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

NCIS

Tim stirred groggily in bed. He let his hands roam around as he stretched. Riley was gone, but his side of the bed was still slightly warm, so he hadn’t been gone long. Tim slowly got up and slipped on a shirt and sweatpants, then walked out to the landing at the top of the stairs. From the top he could see into the living room and out through the large windows where the sunrise was beginning to blossom. Riley was on the deck outside in a t-shirt and sweatpants, leaning against the railing and sipping a cup of coffee. Tim saw an extra mug of coffee waiting next to him, then smiled and walked out to greet him. The morning air was still chilly, so he snaked his arms around Riley from behind for warmth.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever out-slept you,” Tim commented and propped his head up over Riley’s.

Riley smirked and slipped his hands over Tim’s. “I wasn’t about to miss this.”

As the sun rose above the horizon, the sky’s colors split radiantly over the foothills and a breeze blew softly above them. Riley smiled as Tim shivered and gripped him tight. They waited a few minutes after the sun had fully risen, then Riley turned to Tim.

“Alright, Mr. Author,” he began with a smirk. “Grab your typewriter. It’s go-time.”

_DEEP SIX: ROCK HOLLOW_

_The Church of Saint Elizabeth stood abandoned far in the lower DC Metropolitan sprawl. It had been severely damaged during a fire in the late 1940’s, but the superstitious population that made its congregation dared not try to resurrect it. Its gothic, arching stone exterior seemed sturdy, though its roof had collapsed in and most of the stained-glass windows had been broken by thrown rocks at one time or another._

_The crumbling shell of the building stood inside construction fencing seemingly empty, and over time the locals simply stopped noticing it. No one cared about the wooden boards that appeared behind the windows overnight. Who would see the old, dirty building and notice, or even care, that its roof had been quickly and quietly repaired? Of course, the muffled sound of music from within on the occasional night turned a head or two, though passers-by quickly dismissed it as an ‘underground’ concert venue or some other monument to the 90’s and 2000’s defiant subcultures. Surely no one of interest to anyone would set foot in such a place, or even cared of its existence. Thus, the regal elite of Washington DC under cover of night could pass through the mangled veil of The Church of Saint Elizabeth and blend seamlessly into the raucous crowd of Club APEX._

“Oooh, the _mangled veil_ of a church, I love it!” Riley grinned as he scraped ham and eggs onto a plate for Tim’s breakfast.

“You don’t think it’s too much?” Tim asked and checked off a line from his free-writing page.

“No, no, it’s good. Keep going.”

Seated at the kitchen island Tim continued typing then read the next passage aloud.

_Agent McGregor wondered about how the crumbled architecture appealed to the wealthy and powerful – if there was a threshold one crossed where lavish surroundings became too monotonous, if it was an escape where a family-type politician or businessman could indulge in wild hedonism without recourse. Whatever the appeal was, McGregor was about to find out. Club APEX had stayed successfully hidden even from local police, but came on NIS’ radar when a hooker connected to multiple deaths was linked to the club’s activity. Unlike other clubs that had dubious reputations, NIS had no information on this club whatsoever other than the building’s history, and had only one way to get in._

_McGregor adjusted the collar of his sleek black button-down shirt and checked his white bowtie in the reflection of the limousine’s window. On the other side of the car, Agent Tommy examined his outfit to ensure that it matched McGregor’s, and slipped his badge into his sock. Between them, forensic analyst Amy Sutton fanned herself under the heat of a puffy, black fur coat covering her tight leather mini-skirt and corset. She fussed with her golden bracelets and stiletto heels and huffed._

_“I really don’t know how people wear this kind of crap,” she moaned._

_Tommy sneered at her. “Says the woman who wanted her ‘escorts’ to look like Chippendales.”_

_She raised a snarky eyebrow at him. “Honestly, I’ll trade outfits with you. I can do boots with heels, but these-” she tugged at a loose strap on one of the stilettos “-devices of pure torture.”_

_McGregor smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it, just focus on playing a fashion journalist and get us through the door. After that, it’s just a matter of finding Delaney inside before she finds another mark.”_

_The limo lined up with a few other cars to get to a red-carpet entryway, though with no photographers allowed on site it looked more like it would’ve been a funeral procession. The fast beat from the techno music within the building and the security outside, however, gave away the club’s intent. McGregor stepped out of the limo first, then extended his arm for Amy to gracefully exit as well, with Tommy following up to be on her other arm. With her bodyguard-like escorts, Amy glided up the stairs towards the club entrance. When stopped by security, she gave the guard a disapproving look and gave the name of a popular but reclusive online journalist that the team procured as an identity. The underpaid guard just barely recognized the name as someone noteworthy, and without further investigation let the group into the club._

_The inside of Club APEX had been successfully modernized except for the original stone walls. Inside the front room there were covered tables with multiple attendants for the large coat check, which had a guard on each side to prevent theft. Walking further inside, the first thing patrons were drawn to bars on either side of the room, ensuring no one went without a drink. Behind the bars were tall black shelves for the drinks, however they were free-standing shelves as the owners didn’t want to risk mounting anything of importance on the old walls._

_Large rubble piles were decoratively left around the room to add a grungy, forbidden feel to the space, though they were kept away from the more comfortable areas of the room. The floors in the sanctuary had been smoothed and booths with small tables were added, all facing the rear of the church where a few steps led up to a stage. Instead of an altar, a long pole protruded up to the height of the ceiling beside to large sets of speakers._

Riley called from upstairs down to the living room where Tim typed at the desk, “If I’m on that pole, Tim, so help me god-!”

“Keep it up and you will be!” Tim called back with a smile and continued narrating as he wrote.

_Agent Tommy was instantly mesmerized by the show happening on the stage where a woman showed more of herself than anyone he’d seen on late night Cinemax. McGregor scanner the room for their target, but no hair or faces matched what they were looking for. They wandered to the bar on the right side of the room to help blend in, keeping slightly behind Amy to continue appearing as her bodyguards. As they approached, McGregor found himself staring at their bartender._

_She was short with fair skin, she had long straight blonde hair with deep black highlights flowing down to her chest, deep blue piercing eyes lined with thick black eyeliner, a slim face with a delicate but straight jawline, and a smirk that showed she meant business. She wore a silver-spiked black luxury bra to hold up a firm bust, sleek black leather pants, black heeled boots that only brought her to average height, and black fingerless leather gloves. Despite her short stature, there was a formidable air around her that many at the club found attractive, keeping her tip jar filled more than any of the other bartenders’._

_The bartender keenly observed the group as the approached. Her eyes locked on McGregor’s for a moment, and her lips twisted into a subtle smile. She then diverted her attention to Amy who leaned forward against the bar, weighing her drink options._

_Amy, knowing she could hold her liquor, decided to sound brave. “Give me something strong.”_

_The bartender smirked. “Any preferences, or do I have to guess?”_

_Amy smiled. “Guess.”_

_The bartender turned to get on a small stepladder, reaching up to one of the top shelves. As she did, she revealed a tattoo of large dragon wings that stretched across her back and down to her waist. McGregor, while drawn towards the tattoo, noticed a set of black brass knuckles tucked into the belt of her pants._

_‘Tough crowd,’ he thought to himself._

_The bartender poured a shot of cloudy green liquid and placed it in front of Amy, whose eyes went wide and her façade faltered._

_“Um…” Amy hesitated. “Is this…?”_

_“Absinthe,” the bartender answered. “And not the weak shit you find here. This is the strong, imported stuff.”_

_Both Tommy and McGregor looked at Amy and the drink, wondering if she’d cross the line and drink something that was illegal to serve. The bartender stared at Amy as if daring her to drink. Amy slowly reached for the shot, but just as her fingers touched the glass, the bartender whipped it away from her._

_“That’s what I thought,” she jeered and set it to the side. She pulled up a bottle of Jim Beam, poured a half glass over some ice and handed it to Amy. “I think this is better for a federal agent on-duty.”_

_Amy’s eyes froze like a deer in headlights. The bartender motioned the other two over with a quick flick of her fingers. Tommy and McGregor approached and leaned in close to the bar. The bartender made sure there was distance between her and the other bartenders and patrons._

_“Relax. I’m Rita, and the only thing that’ll make me care who you are is the tip you leave,” she explained while pouring drinks for the two men._

_All three of them sighed with relief, and Tommy slipped a twenty-dollar bill in her tip jar._

_McGregor took his drink and replied, “Navy Investigative Service. We’re looking for this woman.” He pulled out a small photograph of Delaney and showed it to her._

_A flash of intrigue lit Rita’s eyes before they narrowed slyly, then she sized up McGregor. “And here I thought you were too cute to need a hooker.”_

_Amy frowned with barely covered jealousy as she set down her glass with a firm thud. “She’s connected to a murder and we need to question her,” she grumbled._

_Her tone was not lost on Rita, who bumped her eyebrows knowingly and began making a small tray of drinks. “Well, she was gone for a few days, probably met a mark that she could milk for a few grand… in one way or another. Saw her maybe an hour ago? Pretty sure she’s still here chatting up one of the big dogs.”_

_Tommy smiled and studied the curves of the curious bartender’s torso. “Sounds like you know the regulars around here.”_

_Rita pulled out a black running jacket from under the bar and tied it around her waist, then locked her eyes on someone in the crowd. “It’s easy to spot them when they’re talking to my mark.”_

_McGregor looked surprised. “Your mark?”_

_“I’ll be back in about 5 minutes, maybe less,” she replied. “I expect 10’s from each of you in the jar before I go.”_

_Tommy glanced at his glass. “For just the drink?”_

_Rita scoffed. “No, for fantastic customer service and for the delivery charge for your suspect. Sit back and don’t get in my way.”_

Riley’s face contorted in disapproval as he rinsed off a dust rag. “Ugh, do I really sound like that?”

Tim shook his head quickly through a mouthful of soda. “No, no, it’s an exaggeration. But it does take a certain attitude to get a suspect to confess by arguing with Gibbs.”

Riley snickered and resumed dusting as Tim continued.

_She drew out a belt from under the bar with a holstered Walther 9mm, 2 sets of handcuffs, and a federal badge, then fastened it under the jacket around her waist to keep it hidden. She set the drinks she prepared on a tray and walked towards the tables with a sway in her hips. The three looked at each other when she left, and they stared as she approached a booth facing the stage._

_The table was occupied by a well-dressed middle-aged man and a scantily-dressed woman in her mid-thirties, both barely visible over the back of the booth. Rita presented them with the drinks, but her arm wobbled and the tray spilled the drinks onto the table and the pair seated. Both the man and the woman shot up as Rita covered her mouth in mortified shock. From his angle, McGregor could make out from the curly hair and round face that the woman was Delaney, the prostitute they were after._

_“Guys, that’s her,” he alerted them._

_In the distance, Rita dropped to the floor out of sight for a moment. After a second, Delaney fell down to the floor with a shriek and Rita stood back up, no longer holding a shocked face but rather a focused one. The man in the booth used his weight to push her back towards another table, but she bounced back and kneed him in the stomach, then tossed him into the opposite booth._

_Both Tommy and McGregor instinctively jumped up to help her, but seeing her easily dispatch her assailant made them decide to heed her instructions to stay away._

_A security guard rushed from one of the side exits over to her, but it gave her enough time to arm herself with her brass knuckles. As the guard flung himself at her, she jumped and landed a punch straight across his face. With his inertia he still caught Rita mid-air and slammed her to the ground, but once there he was dazed from the impacts. She wriggled herself out from under the guard, but the man from the table engulfed her in a bear hug from behind. She freed one arm and jammed her elbow into the man’s nose with a sharp crack and yell from him, which allowed her out of his grasp. Another guard rushed towards her looking ready for battle. Rita rolled her eyes in annoyance and ran towards him. She used a booth seat to jump up, wrapped her legs around his neck in a flying submission, and brought his head down hard on one of the tables while exiting the maneuver perfectly on her feet._

Riley’s eyes widened as he read the text over Tim’s shoulder. “I can NOT do that.”

“You can in my book,” Tim smiled and resumed typing. “Literally.”

_She stepped over Delaney and slapped handcuffs on the middle-aged man. Standing up, she unclipped her badge and held it out for the last security guard running to the patrons’ aid to see. He promptly stopped in his tracks, minding the last two guards on the floor rather than her badge. Her other hand was on her hip-holstered Walther, but as the other guard stood down she returned to her task. She lifted up the man and began pushing him towards the bar._

_As they got within earshot of the team, they could hear the man sputter out, “Who- who are you?”_

_“I’m FBI,” she replied calmly while forcing him forward. “But I think a few more three-letter agencies want a chance to talk to you, too.”_

_McGregor, Tommy and Amy all looked at each other in amazement and each pitched $10 into Rita’s tip jar._

_As she reached the three agents at the bar, she reached past McGregor to retrieve her tip jar, winking at him as she slid by._

_“Your girl’s by the table. I think she needs your help.”_

_She then pushed the man towards the front door with one hand while carrying her full tip jar in the other. The team then rushed over to the table to find Delaney cuffed by her ankle to the table, furiously trying to pick the lock with a hairpin._

_Tommy was the first to quip, “Yeah, those FBI cuffs are a doozy. We at the Navy like to use our own.” He dangled a set of handcuffs he retrieved from his pocket.”_

_Delaney huffed in defeat and fell back against the booth. “Crap.”_

NCIS

Tim and Riley both smiled and nodded happily at the chapter’s end as they cuddled together on one of the living room couches. Tim leaned back and sighed while Riley shifted to face him, grinning proudly.

“You’ve definitely got your mojo back, babe,” he proclaimed.

Tim hummed with happy exhaustion. “I haven’t gotten that coherent of a chapter out on the first try since… I think since chapter twelve of _Deep Six_.”

Riley nodded and stacked the papers together in a neat pile on the coffee table. “Well I love it, and I think your publisher will too.”

“Thanks to your help,” Tim reminded him and gave him a quick rub on his back. “Getting away from my normal space really helped get the ideas flowing.”

Riley stood up and stretched, then looked at a nearby clock. “It’s almost 5, do you want to catch the sunset? There’s a really great stop up the mountain that usually ride to.”

Tim’s throat caught at the word. “Ride?” He knew he couldn’t avoid it forever.

“Please?” Riley pouted his lower lip. “I’ll take good care of you and you’ll love it. Trust me.”

Tim knew he could say no, but he also knew that it was important to Riley for him to at least try it once. He silently nodded, and Riley’s face instantly lit up. He launched into a litany of do’s and don’ts of being a motorcycle passenger while they were each dressing into a pair of jeans. Riley then led Tim out to the garage where he had taken the motorcycle off of the trailer while Tim had been writing. Riley opened a small closet in the garage and pulled out two sets of thick boots, handing one to Tim to replace his sneakers.

“I think these are a little small,” Tim noted as he tried to shove his foot into a boot.

“Here, lets…” Riley knelt down in front of him and began loosening the laces on the boot, then helped pry Tim’s foot into it. “There!” he huffed, then stood up. “Now a coat.”

He looked back in the closet and started to take a thick black coat off its hanger, but paused and looked at a brown leather jacket that hung next to it. He looked thoughtfully over to Tim and back to the closet, then instead pulled out the brown jacket. The brown leather was older with some wear on the chest, with ribbed shoulders and elbows, and had a single white stripe up left side of the torso.

“Here,” he offered it to Tim. “Try this on.”

Tim stood up and fit snugly into the jacket. It smelled a bit musty from being in a closet for who-knows-how-long, but he liked how it felt. He zipped it up and flexed his arms, then smiled. “I like it. Thanks!” He felt around and pulled out a matching pair of brown leather gloves from one of the pockets.

Riley smiled and took a breath. “Good. It was my dad’s.”

Tim’s smile fell and the jacket suddenly felt a little tight. “Oh… should I-?”

“-No, no, it’s totally fine,” Riley reassured him while slipping on his usual blue-striped black leather jacket and gloves. “I think he would’ve liked you, and he would’ve liked you wearing that while riding with me. This bike was actually his, and I fixed it up. It’s a 1988 Honda Shadow, nothing too huge but just right for that weekend ride.”

He walked over to the red and silver motorcycle and pulled out an open-faced helmet and sunglasses from one of the leather saddlebags that hung from the passenger seat over the rear wheel. Tim was grateful to see that there was a small back rest where he no doubt would be sitting. Riley stood on the tips of his toes to reach up and put the helmet on Tim, making sure it would stay on tight. Riley looked at him with his eyes glowing with happiness.

“I’m really proud of you, Tim,” he whispered. “You’ll love this.”

Tim nodded nervously as Riley released him and prepared his own helmet, then Riley opened the garage door and mounted the bike. Tim followed Riley’s instructions as he gave them.

“Alright, now swing your leg over… there you go. Now those pegs right there,” he pointed with his hands on either side of the bike, “put them on there. I’ll handle our balance when standing still but let me know if you need to stretch your legs. Your hands will go here,” he placed Tim’s hands around his waist where Tim latched on tightly, making Riley giggle. “Yes, like that. Now I know you’re left-dominant so use that hand to keep hold of me and your right to signal me. If you need me to slow down or stop, tap me three times on my chest. If you just need to get my attention or say ‘yes,’ tap my thigh. Make sure to lean with the bike, but don’t overdo it. I’ve done this before, so don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Tim breathed and shut his eyes.

The motorcycle puttered loudly to life. The sound of the engine and exhaust echoed loudly in the garage, but it didn’t roar like Tim expected. He tightened his grip on Riley and his arms traveled further up Riley’s chest because of their height difference on the bike. Riley grinned as he balanced the bike and kicked up the stand, then slowly throttled them out of the garage. Tim opened his eyes and cringed as he was pulled forward. Riley took it slow as they started riding down the driveway around the hill. Once outside the engine didn’t sound as loud and Tim’s senses started to calm. It wasn’t as terrifying as he thought it would be, but they hadn’t gone very far. Riley slowed to a stop at the end of the driveway.

“You okay?” he called back.

Tim tried to remember his instructions, then lightly tapped his hand against Riley’s thigh and latched it tightly back around the man’s chest.

“Here we go. We’ll take it slow, but remember to signal me if you get scared or need me to stop.”

Riley gently kicked them off and throttled the engine to life again. The rumbling sensation buzzed Tim’s insides as they began moving. His nerves were on end as he felt himself shift slightly in his seat, but he held on tightly to Riley and used the footrests to help steady himself as instructed. They approached a slight bend and Tim held his chin onto Riley’s shoulder, and found himself leaning naturally with Riley as they glided around the curves. The cool air on his face reminded him to keep breathing. He was surprised as he was quickly adjusting to it, and he almost began to relax.

Riley lifted off the throttle for a moment and yelled back, “We’re about to go over a bridge. I know you don’t like heights.”

Tim nodded into Riley’s shoulder, and held tight. He focused on the passing trees and hills as they rode, and as they approached the bridge they had gone over getting to the house he kept looking at the horizon and the bridge itself instead of down to the dried riverbed. The wheels buzzed more with the grating on the bridge floor but surprisingly it didn’t bother him. Riley slowed them down as they came to an intersection. Tim felt himself slide more into Riley, but again he used his footholds to keep steady.

“How are you doing?” Riley called.

Tim took a deep breath. “I think I’m okay!”

“Want to keep going?”

Tim nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“That’s my man,” Riley grinned.

Riley made a left through the intersection and throttled them up to a faster speed. Tim gripped him tightly, but his face began spreading into a smile as he started to enjoy the motion. His breathing steadied as he watched the trees breeze past them. He started anticipating the curves as he watched the road and leaned with Riley as if they were doing a gentle, swaying dance on the seats. The road they were on started climbing higher as it hugged the hillside, and Tim could see the sunset beginning in the distance.

Tim felt the wind on his arms even though he was safely warm in the leather jacket. He started to feel like he was flying as the budding trees and foliage blurred into a green canvas. The daring thought passed through his head as he looked at the road ahead. He shifted his grip fully to his left arm around Riley’s chest, then slowly started to extend his right hand out. The wind caught around his hand and he could feel it slipping through his fingers. With the wind, he let his arm reach fully out and his heart soared like an eagle above the clouds. He let out an ecstatic laugh and roared into the sky. Riley grinned as he looked back at him in the mirror.

After another ten minutes of riding up the mountain, Riley pulled off to a small stop with a picnic table under a blossoming tree. The spot overlooked the foothills to the west and had an unobstructed view of the coming sunset. After coming to a full stop, Riley instructed Tim on dismounting, but Tim’s legs wobbled like jelly and he stumbled to the ground. Riley chuckled as he shut off the bike and helped him up.

“That… that…” Tim panted and tightly embraced Riley, “that was amazing!”

Riley glowed with happiness as he held Tim and removed their helmets, hanging them from the motorcycle handles. He took Tim’s hand and led him to sit on the hill facing the sunset. Tim’s breathing steadied as he sat comfortably on the ground.

Riley looked at some approaching clouds and checked his watch. “We’ll have to high-tail it back home after sunset to avoid getting caught in the rain, but this’ll be worth it.”

Tim sighed contently. “Thank you for bringing me here, Riley. This is so amazing.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied and squeezed Tim’s hand. “I can’t tell you how happy it made me that you were willing to do this. On our first date, I wasn’t sure if you were the type to try something new like that.”

“I’m normally not,” Tim admitted with a sheepish smile and leaned back on the grass. “But since I’ve met you, I’ve felt more confident and I wanted to at least try it. Being around you makes me want to be brave and live with no regrets.”

Riley flushed red. “That’s… that’s really sweet. I wish I felt like that more.”

Tim tilted his head aside. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Riley explained as he rolled over, “I’m not really that brave or adventurous all the time. I’ve spent more of my personal life running than I care to admit, and I sure as hell have my share regrets.”

Tim rolled onto his side facing Riley and propped his head up. “Like what?”

Riley matched his pose and faced him with a smile. “You first.”

Tim smiled nervously and thought back. “Hm, okay. I regret investing some of my book earnings into that crappy hedge fund, which crashed. I didn’t exactly NEED it, but after Abby cut up my Armani leather coat for evidence, I couldn’t afford a new one.”

“Ouch!” Riley cringed. “I regret selling my Trans Am. I like the truck and I needed it to tow the motorcycle and to move things after my dad passed, but I really miss that car.”

“My Camaro,” Tim added and shook his head. “I regret crashing that into a school bus less than ten minutes after getting it for my Sweet 16. I wound up in traction.”

Riley pointed towards his butt. “I regret not taking off work for longer when I got the griffin tail tattooed on my ass and thigh. It hurt so bad trying to sit down for a while, but I worked in Cyber Crimes so I couldn’t just stand. And I don’t want the tattoo listed on my file in case it prevents me from getting a promotion, so I practically layer cover-up all over my back so it doesn’t get noted in my physicals.”

“Oh man,” Tim grimaced and chuckled. “I regret getting a tattoo on my ass, period! The itch after it was on, then getting it lasered off? Never again. At least, not there.”

Riley laughed, then silently looked away. “You wanna hear a big one?”

Tim’s lips straightened as his smile deflated. “Sure.”

Riley sighed and looked at the glowing orange sunset in the distance and the dark clouds looming closer overhead. “I regret leaving NCIS.”

Tim noticed a real change in Riley’s demeanor, more than just the unbridled and carefree self that Tim had seen on the trip. He had seen Riley open up before back home, but on this trip he was truly seeing under Riley’s armor. His eyes widened and he breathed deeply as he processed what Riley admitted. “Wow… that _is_ big.”

“Yup,” Riley nodded. “This whole compartmentalization thing is really too extreme to be healthy. During that last raid on the warehouse, I killed 11 people and barely blinked an eye, all because they were the ‘bad guys with guns’ I was waiting for. And I had no guilt about doing it whatsoever. How messed up is that? I didn’t have enough time to really balance being a soldier and an investigator before Dad died, and it really just screwed me up when I jumped ship for Cyber Crimes. It became like a switch that goes back and forth, but maybe if I stayed at NCIS instead of running away I would’ve been more seasoned in the field and would’ve been able to balance myself. I always remember that when I’m back out here, but then when I go back to DC I have to get the job done somehow. So I just deal with it. But I see you and Tony, and you guys have it all right. It makes me miss the old days.”

“I’m not always so put-together,” Tim admitted. “I almost quit NCIS. Well, actually I tried to quit. My sister was involved in a case and I tried to help her without getting the team involved, but it got so messy that I turned in my badge and my gun. Of course, Gibbs came and shoved them both back at me saying to never do it again, so just like that I was back. I don’t regret standing up for my sister, but I definitely could’ve handled the whole thing better.”

“Oh good, then it’s not just me who messes up,” Riley chuckled and nudged closer, looking away towards the sun that now glowed red as it was lowering in the distance. “Once I even thought of moving back to California just to start over. Sometimes my mind still goes back there.”

Tim pulled Riley closer. “Cut yourself some slack. You may have had to do difficult things for your job, even keeping a work-related secret from me. That doesn’t make you a bad person, and it doesn’t negate all the good things that you do. Think of all the people that were saved from the drug and sex trade just from that raid. We got a lot of people out, and you were part of that. You do good work, and you deserve a happy place where you can just be yourself.”

Riley’s eyes glossed over with held-back tears as a smile twisted his lips. He looked out towards the setting sun, now starting to be blocked with clouds, and back to Tim. “Why are you so damn great?”

Tim stroked Riley’s cheek with his fingers. “Because you are.”

Tim leaned in towards him and kissed him tenderly on the lips, gently rolling Riley into his embrace, kissing until they started to feel droplets of rain from overhead.

NCIS

Tim and Riley burst through the door into the house from the garage, tongues entwined, water dripping down their leather jackets and wet shoes squeaking on the floor. Riley tugged at Tim’s jacket as they kissed, but as Tim tried to kick his boots off he fell backwards with a crash and pulled Riley down onto him. Riley laughed and helped forcefully pry Tim’s feet out, all while Tim started stripping Riley from the waist up. Once they were free of their shoes, they sprinted upstairs while darting kisses back and forth until they fell backwards onto the bed.

Riley whispered into Tim’s ear, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, baby,” Tim replied as he worked the button on Riley’s pants.

Rain started hammering against the windows as Riley shed his pants and leaned back over Tim to continue kissing him. He slid his leg over Tim to begin to straddle him, but Tim placed a hand on his thigh to stop him.

“Wait,” Tim breathed.

Riley panted as he looked into Tim’s eyes, waiting.

Tim started to smile and started sliding his legs around Riley’s hips. After trusting Riley with his life on the motorcycle, he knew he could trust Riley to be the first to fuck him. He looked up expectantly to Riley’s face, where a grin was starting to appear.

“You want me to top?” Riley asked.

Tim nodded his head. “Yeah. I want you.”

A sly grin spread over Riley’s face as he maneuvered himself between Tim’s legs and started running his hands and lips over the man’s body. He gently rolled Tim over so he was laying on his stomach and slid his pants down over his hips. He slowly kissed his way up Tim’s inner thigh, gnawed at the flesh of his glutes as he passed, then continued up his back to his neck. Tim felt Riley’s weight as the smaller man laid down on top of him, the warmth of their naked skin building with the contact. Riley nipped at Tim’s ear and kissed just below it as he reached into the nightstand for lube. He slicked up a finger and started slowly circling it around Tim’s hole.

“Relax, I’ve got you, Tim,” Riley whispered and pressed his finger into Tim.

Tim breathed steadily as he felt the intruder. He had the strangest sensation of déjà vu when Riley spoke and entered him, but he was too wrapped up in the new sensations to think about it. It felt different than when he fingered himself, as the control was no longer his. Riley slowly slid his finger in and out, making small circles to open and relax Tim’s muscles. Tim moaned in pleasure and Riley latched his mouth onto his, letting their tongues and moans battle. Riley added a second finger, expanding Tim’s entrance and causing Tim to sharply breathe in. Riley nibbled down Tim’s neck and lined up his cock with Tim’s entrance.

“Breathe, baby,” Riley growled in Tim’s ear.

Tim nodded and tried to relax, though his heart was hammering in his chest. He felt the pressure opening him as Riley leaned forward, then as Riley slipped past the ring of muscle he bit down on the side of Tim’s neck. Tim gasped shallowly and gripped the bed hard as he felt his insides being filled, but as his nerves exploded through his body he saw flashes of every memory he had of the one man he’d planned to be there for this moment for years. The piercing light blue eyes stared back at his in the elevator, the lips burned in the same spot on his neck as in the alley with the other man, the warmth filling him was just as hard and satisfying as he’d dreamed, and his brain didn’t yet know who any of it really belonged to. The boiling love and lust he had already been building wrenched his senses out of his control. The memories flooded through his mind, the stiffness and heat inside and out of his body slaking the yearning he’d felt for so long.

The warm voice breathed into his ear, “I love you Tim.”

“I love you too, Gibbs.” His head was too on fire to realize what slipped out of his mouth from sheer memory.

Suddenly the hot skin on his back lifted and was replaced with cold air, and the voice replied, “What?”


	18. Chapter 17

NCIS

“Riley! Please wait!” Tim called as he rushed out of the bedroom after Riley while trying to get a leg into his boxers.

Riley had already made it downstairs and was putting on his clothes from the piles on the floor.

Tim reached the bottom of the stairs but Riley wouldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry. Please, let me explain.”

“No,” Riley stopped him flatly. “Not here. Just get your stuff and get in the truck. We’re going back.”

“It’s not what you think-”

“STOP!” Riley shouted. His eyes were wide, but his brow was not curled with anger. “I’m not doing this with you. Not here, not again.” He looked only at the floor like he was afraid to look at anything else and stormed away into the garage.

Tim watched confoundedly and whispered to himself, “Again?”

His guilty conscience twisted inside him. He remembered Riley saying that the last person he brought back to the cabin left him crushed after the break-up, and that it was hard coming back to his own house because of it. He felt horrible about saying Gibbs’ name, and worse that it was in Riley’s safe haven. If Riley was taking them back, Tim knew it was because he didn’t want to remember breaking up with him at the house. He buried his head in his hands as his heart ached, both for himself and for Riley knowing what he had done. He had to explain what happened, that he was over Gibbs but that he had planned for so long that Gibbs would be the first man to top him, that it all came spilling out and wasn’t how he felt. He didn’t want it to be the end.

He quickly rushed through the house, haphazardly packing his clothes but gently packing his typewriter. He walked quietly out to the garage where he saw Riley standing outside in the torrential rain in his t-shirt and jeans, leaving his leather jacket on the hood of the garaged truck. His fists were clenched and he breathed deeply and slowly. Tim gulped and slowly loaded his stuff into the truck’s back seat, then sat in the front seat waiting for Riley.

Once he heard Tim close the door, Riley turned around and briefly glanced at Tim before walking back into the garage. He swiped off some of the excess water from his skin and hair and then grabbed his coat but simply threw it into the truck. Without a word he got in the driver’s seat, took a deep breath, started the engine, and drove them away from the house. The silence between them was deafening. Tim could tell that even though his walls were up and his face was rigidly expressionless, Riley was still incredibly upset. He could just barely hear Riley trying to hide the deep breaths he was continually taking, but it wasn’t quite enough. After only ten minutes Riley flipped on the radio, but Tim immediately shut it off.

“Riley, I’m so sorry. Please, talk to me.”

Riley breathed shakily and adjusted his tight grip on the wheel. He remained silent.

Tim’s nerves started churning under his skin. He didn’t want to spend two hours in total and frigid silence when there was a lot to work out. When he looked closely at Riley, he almost thought he saw panic more than anger. “We need to talk.”

Silence.

“Ok, fine, I know you’re upset, but please at least listen,” Tim pleaded. “I’m so sorry I said ‘Gibbs.’ It was an accident. He was the one I told you about, that I had feelings for. I wanted him for so long and I was so lonely that I thought he wanted me too, the way he acted around me and did things. I thought he would be the first to take me. But he didn’t. I’m over him. I love y-”

Riley’s stoic expression dropped to a frown and he interrupted with a spiteful hiss, “You said ‘I love you too, Gibbs.’ You didn’t just say his name. I couldn’t care less if you called me Oprah while I was fucking you, that’d have been weird but funny. But you said _you love him_. Don’t just say you _had feelings_ for him; you were in love with him and you still are. If you were actually over him, you wouldn’t have said it and you would’ve told me the whole truth a long time ago. You lied to me.”

“I’m not in love with him,” Tim defended. “I was before, I admit, even when you and I met. But being with you and falling in love with you, it- it-” he started sputtering as he tried to untangle his thoughts, “It just made me realize it wasn’t real! It was a fantasy, it never happened.”

Riley paused and narrowed his eyes, then chuckled. “Wasn’t real,” he quietly repeated and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Had I known it was Gibbs, I never would’ve let things go this far. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

Tim frowned and looked at him with surprise at his reaction. “What?”

The other man inhaled like he was about to say something, then stopped and shook his head. The noise of the rain on the car and the spray from the road seemed to amplify the silence between them.

Tim noticed, and he felt afraid but needed to hear what Riley was thinking. “Say it. Whatever you’re thinking or feeling, say it. We both agreed, no more secrets.”

“Yeah, like you really stuck to that one?” Riley retorted cuttingly, but with less anger in his voice.

The comment’s sting dug harshly into Tim’s gut, and he backed uncomfortably further back into his seat. He might have imagined Riley’s eyes shut regretfully for a quick moment, but he knew for certain there was more to the story. “What is it, Riley? You keep talking like we’ve done this before. Back at the cabin, you said ‘again,’ and even now… Did… did someone do this same thing to you before? Why does it matter that it was Gibbs?”

Riley thought tensely for a moment, and finally he replied, “It didn’t just happen to me, it also _was_ me. I was in love with him once too.”

Tim’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. It suddenly started to make sense why Riley was so upset. It wasn’t just any other man Tim said he loved; it was someone that Riley once loved too.

He then remembered what Abby told him, _‘But he definitely has some secrets and things bottled up, and he’s very good at keeping them that way. It’s like… I don’t know if what I think I know is true, and I can’t talk about it or even about why I can’t talk about it.’_

Tim realized that she suspected Riley had feelings for Gibbs when they worked together, and that she couldn’t tell anyone just like Tim couldn’t tell anyone about his feelings either. They both involved implicating their superior of breaking protocol. He suddenly saw the rest of the car ride and the relationship looking extremely bleak.

Riley continued, “I have been here before. It was a long time ago. And for a while after, no one I dated was able to measure up to the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the man I idolized. So I was alone and miserable until I finally stopped wondering ‘what if’ and moved on.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tim quietly asked.

Riley scoffed, “Why didn’t _you_ tell _me_? For me it was ancient history. Irrelevant, over, done with, it didn’t matter anymore. You… This only _just_ happened. And I couldn’t tell you because I… you know what? If you really want to know why, go ask him yourself. You two need to talk anyway. Until then I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

Tim felt the wind get knocked out of him as Riley said the words. He knew it had to be on Riley’s mind but hoped he could avoid it. He sat there silently staring at the other man, heart painfully throbbing, lump rising in his neck, and tears welling in his eyes. “Don’t say that. Riley, I’m so sorry, but don’t throw this away. I truly love you and want only you. I already talked to Gibbs about it when you and I got serious and he said he never felt the same for me. Since then, I promise, it’s been over. I will fix this. I’ll do whatever I have to.”

Riley shook his head, no longer seeming angry or panicked but clearly conflicted. “Whether he felt the same for you or not, it was real enough to you to fall in love with him. You need more time to be over him, believe me, and I won’t be a second-place trophy just because he is unavailable.”

“Riley-”

“No,” Riley firmly silenced him.

Tim silently leaned his head against the window and looked out of it for the rest of the drive. Sheets of rain streaked across the window and the white noise of the rain was the only other sound he could hear. He knew he didn’t deserve Riley’s forgiveness, nor how he could even ask for it again. Lost in his thoughts and miserably angry at himself, the rest of the drive went wordlessly on for an eternity until he recognized his apartment building. He could barely move when Riley parked the truck. He was afraid that if he stepped out, it would be the last time he’d see Riley again.

“Please,” Tim begged. “Don’t let this be the end.”

Riley shut his eyes and his body quaked, like he too was holding back pain but also rage. “I can’t do this, Tim. All this just reminds me of every painful moment I went through, and I won’t do it again. More than that, you told me you loved me and then immediately withheld the whole truth to me about your feelings for someone else. So even if you didn’t work with him every day, even if nothing really happened and it really was all in your head, all this and everything I already know just reminds me that there’s no competing with Gibbs.”

Tim put his hand on Riley’s arm. “There is no competition, there’s nothing between us. Please believe me, it’s over.”

Riley trembled and pulled his arm away. His eyes clamped shut as he whispered, “I want to. I really do. But like I said, I’ve been where you are now, so I know it’s not over. Not yet. Please, go.”

Tim’s stomach twisted and his head felt like he’d been struck by a car. His eyes watered, but he slowly opened the truck door to the rain, took his things from the back seat, and gave Riley one last tortured look before closing the door. He _knew_ he was over Gibbs, and that whatever happened was just a memory resurfacing. He was angry at himself and knew Riley had a right to be angry at him.

Riley didn’t immediately pull away, but when he started reversing the truck every fiber of Tim’s being screamed to run after him. But he knew Riley needed space, and he himself was still dumbstruck by all that just happened. His mind played the conversation over and over.

_‘I could tell Riley, but he couldn’t tell me. I was in love with Gibbs, and so was Riley, but what was so different that he couldn’t-”_

The horror of the realization nearly brought Tim to his knees, both for what it meant to him and what terrible pain he had inflicted on Riley.

_‘Gibbs loved Riley too, and they broke the rules to be together. And I called out Gibbs’ name to Riley.’_

The rain soaked through him as the pieces continued connecting painfully in his mind, cementing his feet to the ground as Riley drove away.

NCIS

Abby’s head bounced to the loud music in her headphones while she thumbed through _Deep Six_. She wasn’t overly fond of the book, but talking about it at work with Tim made her curious about how he could possibly reconnect McGregor and Amy. She stretched across her couch as she skimmed through the pages, looking only for parts where the two characters were involved, but still was having trouble agreeing with Tim’s idea. A flashing red light on her home phone alerted her to an incoming call, and the ID showed the number from her bowling nuns’ church. It was far too late for a normal call, which alarmed Abby, so she quickly pulled out her headphones and swiped up the phone.

“Hello?”

An older woman’s soft but tired voice replied, _“Hello Abby, it’s Sister Rosita.”_

“Is everything okay?” she asked urgently.

_“Oh yes dear, we’re fine. I’m sorry to call so late, but someone called us looking for you, something about your cell phone not working?”_

Abby eyed her cell phone suspiciously as it showed no missed calls. “Who was it?”

_“She said she’s your boss, that Ms. Shepard, and she needs your help. Apparently someone vandalized your friend’s headstone at the cemetery, I think she said it was for Katie?”_

“Kate?!” Abby’s eyes widened and she jumped up from the couch. “Oh my god, no!”

_“Ah, yes, that’s it. Sorry, it’s very late and I’m not fully awake.”_

Abby was already slipping into a pair of boots and rummaging in her purse for her keys. “No, no, thank you! I gotta run.”

She threw the phone back towards the couch as she bounded out of the apartment with rage in her eyes. It was bad enough remembering that her friend was dead, but no one would desecrate Caitlin Todd’s grave and live to talk about it while Abby was alive. She blazed through the rain to the cemetery in Arlington, nearly hydroplaning three times on the way. She sprinted through the rain to the grave where she saw someone already standing there in a black trench coat and holding a black umbrella. She was surprised that no one else was there and that there were no lights surrounding the grave to show the disturbance. Her footsteps squished on the soggy ground as she slowed, and she saw the serious face of Director Shepard become partly illuminated by a far-away parking light.

“Director!” Abby called. “What happened?”

Shepard quickly put a finger to her mouth to tell Abby to be quiet. Abby’s face contorted with confusion as she neared the grave and found the headstone to be untouched. With the rage leaving her system, she became more aware of the cold, pouring rain thudding against her umbrella.

Shepard quietly explained, “I needed to get you here quickly, I’m sorry if it’s late.”

Abby frowned and stepped closer, almost bumping their umbrellas together. “I… okay, what’s going on?”

“Did you bring your cell phone?” Shepard whispered.

“Yeah, why?”

“Take the battery out,” the Director ordered.

A chill when up Abby’s spine as she realized where the conversation might be heading. Her hand slightly shook with nervousness as she removed the back of her phone and pulled out the battery. “Okay,” she replied.

Shepard turned to face her with a focused and determined look. “I’m faced with a very difficult decision, and I need to ask you to do something that will not be easy. Everything we discuss here is off-record and stays between us.”

Abby trembled and nodded, but looked curiously at the headstone. “Why here?”

Shepard paused and also looked at Kate’s grave. “I should’ve come up with an inspirational excuse, but the truth is that it was away from prying eyes and I knew you’d get here fast. After our conversation a month ago, I started digging further into OMNI.” Shepard glanced over at Abby, studying her for any reaction. “I’ve secured a position as a buyer for a new computer virus they’ve developed. It’s an advanced tracking program that can locate any cell phone, computer, or GPS tied to an individual.”

Every muscle in Abby’s body tensed. “You… you’ve been in contact with them?”

Shepard nodded. “They told me they positioned their people in companies all over the world to accomplish this, and all they need to track someone now is a phone number or even a name, and the virus follows them all over the world reporting their location.”

“Riley was right, that’s what they’re up to… Wh-why would they tell you all that?” Abby stammered. “And… why are you telling me?”

“Because they want at least $300 Million for it, and they are auctioning it off in a matter of weeks. We _need_ to get this virus off the market and figure out how to purge it from the world’s electronics.” Shepard’s gaze faltered to the ground for a moment. “Money isn’t all they want. Before they’ll let us into the auction, they’re planning a test using a randomly selected target. As part of vetting the buyers, they want the us each to volunteer a possible target.”

Abby’s eyes widened and her jaw quivered. “They want you to choose someone to be killed?”

Shepard nodded. “As you can imagine, our list of terrorists we want dead is fairly large, but it’s also their client list, so we can’t use one of them. They want someone from within, an agent. The deadline is coming up quickly for me to choose someone. I’m telling you this because you’re the only one who knows how to successfully hide from OMNI without my help.”

A whimper escaped Abby’s throat. “You’re choosing me. You can’t do this, this is horrible! It’s illegal! This- This is like a human sacrifice but not even cool!”

“Abby, look at me,” Shepard ordered quietly. “This is crucial to us catching OMNI. It cannot look like I’ve helped you in any way, or that you have any knowledge of what’s going on. In a few days, you will go on a short vacation using whatever excuse will work. You will leave your personal phone and any other electronic device behind except for a satellite phone that I will give you. Only I will know the number, and you will lay low for a few days until I call you. I have several agents in our Cyber Crimes division ready to trace the upload of the test so we can catch these people, and then it will all be over.”

“Gibbs would be better,” Abby replied as her body shook and tears welled. “He never uses his phone and he’s a trained marine sniper. He’d have a better chance.”

Shepard’s lips curled up, though only momentarily at the thought of Gibbs taking out a whole hit squad. “Too good a chance, and too easily recognized by whoever else may be watching. I’m sorry, Abby, but you’re our only hope of making this work.”

“Not even Ziva?” Abby pleaded.

“Abby,” Shepard reassured her, “you’ll be fine. I’ve trusted you since you told me of your OMNI history, now you need to trust that I know how to fish without losing the bait. I put Tony right next to an arm’s dealer and he made it back without a scratch.”

Abby’s grip on her umbrella tightened further. “We thought he died in a car bomb,” she replied flatly. “Just thought I’d mention that.”

“You’ll have the satellite phone,” Shepard repeated. “If they choose you, I’ll know. I’ll make sure you get away even if that exposes me. You have my word.”

They stared at Kate’s grave in silence as they each pondered the task ahead.

NCIS

Gibbs paused sanding one of the outer planks of the boat to take a sip of beer. He was glad to have the whole day to get this part of the boat ready for its first paint job, but he figured that would wait until Sunday afternoon. He didn’t need a storm to keep him inside, though he wouldn’t have minded being able to tend to a dry lawn. He’d heard the sound of a car hastily pulling into the driveway and even its door being forcefully closed, but so far no one entered the house. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it since it was close to 10 PM, but he had his pistol just an arm’s reach away at the workbench just in case. He resumed sanding the boat, but finally heard the front door open and slam shut.

_‘Well whoever it is doesn’t mind being heard, that’s for sure,’_ He thought to himself. _‘Wonder who I pissed off this time.’_

He waited and looked expectantly at the door at the top of the stairs, then was surprised to see Riley rounding the doorway, completely drenched from standing in the downpour and panting heavily.

Gibbs smirked and called up to him, “I will never understand why you like to stand in the rain.”

Riley curtly replied, “It usually relaxes me.”

Gibbs frowned and watched Riley descend the stairs. Riley paused halfway down exactly as Gibbs expected, loosened his fist revealing a large pocketknife, opened it, then after a few deep breaths he unleashed a rage-fueled yell and hurtled the knife towards the opposite wall. The blade sank entirely to its hilt in the wall nearly two feet from its usual target, the wooden column. Gibbs looked with uncertainty between the knife and its owner, then warily walked to the workbench and poured two small glasses of scotch. He’d seen this look before and the old habit of wanting to take the man into his arms tugged at him, but time had made him more resistant to those urges.

He pushed a glass towards Riley and instructed, “Drink, breathe, then talk.”

Riley glared menacingly at Gibbs, and Gibbs matched the stare but softly and with concern. He nodded again to the drink, which Riley finally marched to the workbench to claim. Gibbs’ eyes stayed focused on the younger man as he downed the scotch like it was a shot, then snatched Gibbs’ glass out of his hand and repeated the action. Gibbs hadn’t been heavy-handed with his pour but he put more than a double-shot’s worth in each glass.

Gibbs exhaled and set both empty glasses on the workbench. “So, it’s that kind of day, is it? What happened?”

Riley breathed deeply as he was told, then he turned to squarely face Gibbs with a frown. “ _You_ happened, Jethro.”

Gibbs raised his eyebrows with confusion.

“Tim told me something very interesting tonight,” Riley continued. “But I need to hear it from you. I need you to tell me that you didn’t know that he was in love with you until he told you.”

Gibbs frowned again and leaned on the workbench. “I didn’t know he was _in love_ with me, but… I knew he was feeling something.”

Riley nodded. “And what about you?”

“Riley-”

“Don’t ‘Riley’ me, Jethro!” he yelled.

“Hey!” Gibbs called over him chidingly.

Riley stood closely and stared up into Gibbs’ eyes, studying them. “You lied to him, didn’t you? I know you.”

Gibbs turned away with a huff and walked back to the boat, feeling flustered. “What else was I supposed to do? I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes I made with you.”

“So you made a different one?” Riley called scornfully as he followed Gibbs. “He’s a good person and he’s out there right now thinking that he dreamed up all the things you did that made him fall in love with you! That is cruel, Gibbs.”

“As cruel as letting him throw away his career?!” Gibbs retorted. “He _is_ a good person and he’s a damn good agent, and I wasn’t going to ruin that just because I wanted him. Once he started showing interest in you, I backed off so you two could be happy.”

“Oh, gee, thanks,” Riley scoffed, his fury still burning. “Well even if he’s not fully in love with you anymore, his feelings are still unresolved thanks to you. You can start doting on him again.”

Gibbs shut his eyes and sighed disappointedly. “You broke up with him?”

“Yeah. Yeah I did,” Riley answered and clenched his fists again, trying shakily to keep composure. Then a quick, hysterical laugh escaped his lips. “You- you know the worst part? I don’t even get to be mad. I want to be _so_ angry at him for what happened, but I can’t because I was in the same position and did the same things, the same little lies, and I can’t even tell him what happened with us because it was our well-known little secret. But I _can_ be really fucking pissed at you because now I know how it all started.”

Gibbs tepidly looked over at him. “What did he do?”

Riley grimaced. “He told me before he had feelings for someone, but he didn’t say he loved them and didn’t tell me it was you. The real cherry on top was finding out a few hours ago because he said he loves _you_ while _we_ were having sex.”

Gibbs grunted, “Dammit.” He stared thoughtfully at the boat while they both stood in a moment of silence.

“You have to tell him the truth, Jethro,” Riley prodded. “About you, about us, everything. I’m done letting lies and secrets screw me over.”

Gibbs sighed and gave him an unhappy look.

Riley scolded him, “Oh, don’t even _think_ of giving me that look. I didn’t tell him because I promised you that I wouldn’t, but you’re the only one who wanted it to be a secret.” He sauntered back to the workbench and poured a smaller splash of scotch back into his glass.

“It’s not just my rules,” Gibbs argued. “I’m his superior. I know this is my fault, but he’ll think we can make it work because you and I did for a while. I don’t want to drive him away like I did to you.”

The glass was barely to Riley’s lips when he slammed it back on the workbench and shouted, “THEN MAKE IT WORK, JETHRO! I didn’t just let go of the man I love for you to not even see your side of it through. Tim is not me. He doesn’t have baggage like I did, and he’s obviously patient enough to have stuck with you this far. Stop hiding down here waiting for him and GO GET HIM if you want him so fucking bad! But I swear if you keep him in the dark and still make him get his hands dirty for you, I will never forgive you for it. Don’t you dare.”

Gibbs could see the seriousness in Riley’s eyes, but the rage and the alcohol weren’t helping the conversation. He slowly stepped towards Riley and quietly began, “Look, it’s been a rough night for you. Go upstairs and take a shower, then sleep it off in the spare bedroom. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“No,” Riley quickly answered and backed away towards the stairs. “No, no, I’m going home.”

Gibbs rushed to him. “Don’t run away from this, Riley. Not again. I don’t believe for a second that Tim doesn’t love you, and you just said you still love him. You can make it work with him.”

Riley stared up at him and nodded. “Being loved was never my problem, it was being enough. He… _both_ of you made me feel like I was. And then I wasn’t. I just can’t do it again. You tell him the truth, Jethro, and he’ll make his choice.” He pulled away and ran up the stairs, letting the front door close itself behind him.

Gibbs sprinted up the stairs after him and followed him in his own truck. He knew Riley wouldn’t listen to him or let him drive home, but he needed to at least make sure that Riley made it home safe. After seeing Riley enter his building, Gibbs drove home and kept thinking of how he’d tell Tim the whole truth. That was one aspect of being the Team Leader that he hated, when personal issues got in the way. He was rarely the cause of the issue, but he recognized his own fault in letting things get so far with Tim. He hoped with all his might that Tim wouldn’t leave NCIS or the team, and he had to figure out what he’d say in case Tim wanted to. Slinking back down to the basement, he saw Riley’s pocketknife still sticking out of the wall. It was one of many that Gibbs had given him to practice throwing. He placed a hand on it, but decided to leave it stuck firmly in the wall as a reminder until he fixed things with the two men he cared for most.


	19. Chapter

NCIS

Tim woke up slowly and groggily. His body felt heavy, and the dry warmth of the bedspread gave him no reason to want to get up. He rolled slowly onto his side and stared out the window, noting that it looked like the storm from last night had dissipated and the sun was poking through the clouds. The memory of being cold and drenched hit him again as he remembered the previous night, watching Riley’s truck drive away. He winced and bundled tighter under the blanket and sheets, but they started to feel too warm and too dry for him. He sat up and looked around the bedroom, noticing just how quiet it was. It was perfectly normal, if not relaxing, for Tim’s apartment to be silent in the morning, but today it was too quiet for his comfort. As usual in the morning, he picked up his phone and clicked on the screen to see if he’d missed a call, but the screen showed no calls, texts, or even emails.

Disappointedly he dropped the phone back on the nightstand, and the clattering rang uncomfortably through the silence. Tim didn’t know why his hearing seemed so sensitive, and while he couldn’t put his finger on it, he knew there was something he wanted to hear. He slipped out of bed and immediately felt too cold in just an undershirt and boxers, but he ignored it and padded over to his record player. Flipping through his collection, he selected a random jazz vinyl to start his morning. Even on low volume, the sound of music playing felt entirely wrong and Tim quickly shut it off. He was about to resign himself to accepting that he was depressed and irritable, and that there was no audible cure.

Then his ears perked as his phone buzzed. Almost reflexively he raced back to the bedroom to his phone, hearing the exact sound he finally knew was waiting for. But upon lighting up the screen, the notification merely read that his phone battery was low and needed a charge. His heart dropped in his chest and he realized what he was waiting for. He wanted to hear from Riley. He sank to the floor and sat against the bed. The familiar lump rose in his throat and his eyes glossed over with tears that he held back. He clicked through his phone and selected Riley’s contact, his finger hovering over the Call button. He didn’t think Riley would answer if he called, and Tim didn’t know what to say to him even if he did answer.

He flinched out of surprise when his home phone rang on his nightstand. From the floor he could see “Gibbs” on the cordless phone’s Caller ID. He didn’t know for sure if Gibbs and Riley had been together, but it would explain everything. But in explaining everything, it would also mean he’d been played with lies and secrets by the people he loved, and his grip tightened into a fist at the thought. After a few rings, Tim’s answering machine in the kitchen picked up and Gibbs’ voice came through the speaker.

_“McGee… Tim, call me back. It’s important.”_

Tim felt empty and exhausted despite having just woken from a full night’s sleep. Even flickers of anger he felt towards Gibbs seemed weak and half-hearted. He wasn’t even sure if he would even be able to fix things with Riley just by knowing what happened with him and Gibbs, and he wasn’t ready to face either of them yet. His mind spun once again, and he had to do something. So he simply ignored the call and began his morning routine, spending the rest of the day finding every chore he could to avoid thinking about Gibbs, Riley, or the message still blinking on his answering machine.

The hours dragged by with only the sound of his bustling breaking the silence, and soon Tim’s apartment was in better condition than it had been in weeks. He couldn’t think of more things to do, so he sat at his desk and became mesmerized by the screensaver on his computer. He didn’t know how long he sat there, but he nearly jumped out of his skin when three sharp knocks on the door broke the stillness. He slowly walked to the door and looked through the hole, and upon seeing Gibbs his first thought was there was some kind of trouble, so he quickly whipped the door open.

“Boss! Is everything okay?”

Gibbs was caught off-guard by the greeting and had to pause for a moment, then softly replied, “You tell me. You never called me back.”

It took Tim a moment to understand what Gibbs meant. Then he realized that for a brief, shining moment, he’d pushed aside the crushing discomfort that had plagued him all day. It was blissful seeing Gibbs as a leader again without any baggage clouding Tim’s judgement. But the moment was soon over, and Tim knew there would be only one reason Gibbs was coming over. It was ironic to him that he used to dream pleasantly about Gibbs randomly showing up at his door, and yet now that Gibbs was actually there, it was the last thing he wanted.

Gibbs waited for Tim to say something, but after an awkwardly long silence he held up a six-pack of beer and a plastic bag with two long sandwiches. “I brought dinner in case you were hungry, but I didn’t know what you liked to drink so I brought beer.”

Tim hadn’t even realized it was getting late, and while the thought of food reminded him that he did need to eat, he didn’t want to give Gibbs a reason to stay longer than he had to. “Gibbs, I’m… I’m really not hungry and I don’t want to talk right now. Can we just…?”

Gibbs raised his hand to stop him. “I know what happened, and that’s why we need to talk. We need to get this out in the open.”

Tim frowned and his mouth crept slightly open with confusion. _‘Wait, Riley told him? I thought he wanted me to go to Gibbs. Why would he make Gibbs come to me?’_ Anxiety built in his stomach. The feelings of resentment bubbled back to the surface as he realized what else it meant that Riley went to Gibbs. His breathing turned to angry huffs. “We already talked. You said you’re just my boss, and I’m just your agent. Everything else was all in my head. That’s what you said to me. There’s nothing more to it.”

Gibbs shook his head. “I lied, Tim. I do love you.”

Tim paused. All the other feelings stopped when he heard Gibbs say the words he dreamt about. This wasn’t how he wanted to hear them, but nonetheless he trembled slightly as he was completely disarmed. Gibbs’ face was sincere and open. He wasn’t trying to placate Tim with a quick lie, and Tim could see the difference from when he had done so before. If anything, the man now almost looked apologetic.

“Please,” Gibbs reiterated.

Figuring that Riley wanted it to happen, Tim decided it was his best lead towards cleaning up the mess between them. He nodded, and stood aside to let Gibbs in.

“Please sit,” Gibbs asked softly and gestured to the living room. He could tell Tim was volatile and couldn’t blame him.

Tim took a couple of deep breaths, then walked back to the living room. He sat down at his computer desk where Gibbs offered him a beer, then Gibbs sat at the workstation across from him. Gibbs folded his hands around his bottle and kept looking at the floor, but Tim could see the sadness in his eyes. His walls were gone, and Tim could see Gibbs exposed for the first time. Tim still felt angry, but everything needed to come out.

Gibbs started, “I lied when I told you that I didn’t have feelings for you. I did. I do. And I knew that you had feelings for me. I should’ve talked about it all with you sooner and I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

Tim’s eyes widened in recognition of the momentous occasion of a Gibbs apology. But before he opened his mouth to speak _Rule Six_ , Gibbs continued.

“I know, but some things deserve apologies. _You_ deserve an apology. You deserve to know why I did what I did, and why Riley was upset.”

Taking another deep breath, Tim finally replied, “From everything he said, I’ve put together that you two were involved.”

Gibbs took a sip of beer and leaned forward, then nodded affirmatively.

“He was your agent,” Tim reminded him with the angry quake returning to his voice. The beer in his stomach churned as he imagined Riley kissing Gibbs and felt jealous of both of them. “You broke _Rule Twelve_.”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he studied Tim. “That’s what you’re upset about? Because I did that for him but not for you?”

Tim’s heart twisted hard. His voice was angry and cutting when he replied, “There’s a lot I’m pretty upset about right now. But fine, since you brought it up, why did you break _Rule Twelve_ for him but never even TALK to me?”

“It’s because of what happened with Riley that I knew I couldn’t,” Gibbs explained. “Yes, _Rule Twelve_ was a rule when Riley joined the team, but… he was different than any agent I’d met. He was an oddball when he joined. It was me, Stan, and Langer back then. He transferred in from Cyber Crimes and filled the vacant spot. He had an odd but efficient way of looking at things, and he was a little green around the gills. They thought he was naïve, but he was just… a different kind of investigator. Stan was the Senior Field Agent, so Riley was his ‘Probie.’ He held his ground pretty well, though.”

_FLASHBACK_

_Two tall agents were standing over the desk of the third agent, Riley Mathis, who looked up at them with doubt._

_“Come on, Riles, you’ll love her!” The blonde agent on the right urged._

_“Yeah right, Stan. The only women you’d ever try to set me up with is one you’ve already dated and would swear is insane,” Riley retorted._

_Stan dropped his jaw in mock insult, but didn’t correct him._

_Langer spoke up, “Hey, he’s doin’ you a favor! Besides, I’d never steer you wrong!”_

_Riley rolled his eyes and smiled. “Ok Langer, I’ll give you credit, the last girl you set me up with was very pretty and she only tried to steal my wallet twice on that date. I trust you with my work life, but you guys got a messed-up sense of what I’m after in my personal life.”_

_Riley flashed a smirk between the two agents at Gibbs as he appeared in the bullpen behind them, and it took Gibbs more effort than usual to look away before startling the two standing agents with his signature surprise appearance._

_FLASHBACK_

“His eyes… they just keep you there,” Gibbs added.

Tim painfully remembered the way Riley’s eyes locked onto him when he first saw him at the club and every time he looked into them after. The pit of his stomach lowered, and Tim felt a lump appear in his throat. He quietly breathed, “Yeah, they do.”

“I could tell that he liked me. His eyes told me,” Gibbs continued with a nod. “I didn’t know just how much I had started to like him too. After Stan left, he didn’t feel like he had developed enough skills, all the right instincts. He wanted me to train him like I was trained, to push him… _break_ him. So I did. I trained him to become a sniper, and even with a pistol he became one of the best shots I’ve ever seen.”

_FLASHBACK_

_Gibbs stood next to Riley at one of the posts on the NCIS shooting range. He stood close while Riley stared through the scope of his M4 Carbine at five numbered targets grouped together at long-range. Gibbs’s right hand rested on Riley’s hip, his thumb slipping under the hem of Riley’s jacket and shirt and brushing against the younger man’s bare skin. He then moved his other hand to cover Riley’s eyes to keep him from seeing the targets, fingertips gently feeling the smooth skin of Riley’s face._

_His mouth was only centimeters from Riley’s ear as he whispered, “Without me, my rifle is useless.”_

_Riley recited with him and continued, “Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will.”_

_Gibbs briefly glanced down the range then barked, “One! Four! Three! Five! Two!” and lifted his hands away._

_Riley quickly examined the targets and rapidly fired off five shots at the targets in the order which Gibbs gave them, hitting them each in the center ring just under two seconds from Gibbs’s command._

_FLASHBACK_

Gibbs smiled at the memory. “I was proud of what he’d accomplished, as was he. I was amazed by how quickly he responded to the training, like it was always inside of him but needed to be coaxed out. Whenever he’d come down from it all, I could always tell that he was almost afraid of himself, but I tried to make sure he knew that he didn’t have to be. Then it started to seem like he was pushing himself harder just to get my attention. He certainly did. I never even expected it. Once I realized something was happening between us, I gave him space because I didn’t want to be alone with him in case I got tempted. One day he decided enough was enough.”

_FLASHBACK_

_Gibbs ran the sandpaper across one of the many pieces of the boat frame he was assembling. He had no music on tonight, just the sound of the paper against the wood and the occasional tap of his glass after a sip of whiskey. He heard the engine of the car just outside and the brief screech of tires stopping a car too quickly. He continued sanding as he heard his front door open and slam shut, then he waited as the fast and heavy footsteps approached the basement. Gibbs looked up to see Riley whip through the doorway and down the stairs, quickly pulling off his jacket on the way down._

_Gibbs paused his sanding and scanned Riley as he moved closer. He looked exasperated and almost desperate. Riley looked back at Gibbs directly in the eyes, and Gibbs once again had difficulty keeping himself from drowning in them._

_“I’m done messing around, Gibbs,” Riley declared, putting his hands on his hips. He alternated pointing at himself and Gibbs and asked, “What is this? What’s going on between us?”_

_Gibbs could feel the heat from Riley’s body and could smell his scent. He didn’t want to be wrong about Riley’s feelings towards him, but it was still a risk. “I’m your boss, and your friend. Is there something else going on?”_

_Riley sprang towards Gibbs and kissed him hard on the lips. He gripped Gibbs’ sweatshirt and pulled him closer until Gibbs awkwardly put his hands on Riley’s shoulders._

_Riley broke the kiss and stammered, “I’m sorry… I… Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll be gone. We won’t have to talk about this again.”_

_Gibbs slid his hands down to Riley’s upper arm and thought hard about the kiss. It was stunning and had dangerous consequences. He took a moment to silently think about the situation while staring back into Riley’s eyes, which Riley interpreted only as silence._

_Riley sighed regretfully and tried to pull away, “Oh god, ok, I’m sorry, I’ll just-“_

_Gibbs smirked as he pulled Riley back up to him, slid one arm down behind Riley’s waist and raised the other to cup Riley’s face. “One night, just one. Ok?”_

_Gibbs reached down to kiss him, but let the kiss be soft and tender. Riley wrapped his arms around Gibbs and held tightly to him while they kissed in the dim light of the basement._

_FLASHBACK_

“I really meant for it to just be one night,” Gibbs continued with a deep breath, staring intently at the floor, almost visibly reliving it. “But one night kept happening again and again. He grew to be bold, direct, everything he wanted to be and everything I hoped he would be. It stopped being just about the sex, it really began feeling right. When we were at work it was like nothing was happening; but even there we were getting closer, working together better and better. Outside of work, I couldn’t resist him and he knew it. We challenged each other, and he was unlike anyone else I had been with. He was smart and witty, and he didn’t take any crap from anyone and made sure that I knew it, too. After a while, he brought me to the cabin.”

Tim slowly took a sip of his beer as he processed the information. His anger had slightly abated, if only for his focus on seeing what he could pull from the conversation to win back Riley. He tried to imagine Gibbs and Riley kissing and cuddling on one of the couches in the cabin’s living room, and the two of them laying in the hammock looking up at the stars together like he and Riley had. “So you two were serious. How often did you go there?”

“Quite a few times over the summer and fall. I wondered where he was disappearing to before we got together.” Gibbs sighed, then looked back at Tim. “Riley had spent so much time with me helping to build boats that I thought it was time I helped give him a hand around the cabin. I even helped build the new cabinets in the kitchen. It was a change from building boats, and it was another thing we could do that was special.”

_FLASHBACK_

_Gibbs casually leaned over the railing of the cabin’s deck, a content smile on his face as he looked out at the golden sunrise over the valley. Riley studied him from the doorway into the house and quickly snapped a picture from a digital camera. He printed the picture from his computer then hung it with a frame in a spot on the gold-painted tree on the living room wall. Gibbs noticed it on his way back into the house but left it untouched._

_Gibbs then found Riley in the still-under-construction kitchen trying to screw on a hinge for a cabinet door, but the top was just out of his reach. Gibbs smiled and came up behind him, letting their bodies rub together as he took Riley’s hand and gently slipped the screwdriver out of it._

_Riley smiled and quickly chuckled, “Thanks. I’ll eventually remember to use the step-stool.”_

_Gibbs let his lips press against Riley’s ear as he screwed in the hinge, inhaling the smell of Riley’s jet-black hair. He thought of the framed photo he’d just seen in the living room and whispered, “I love you.”_

_Riley slowly turned and looked up at the other man with surprise as it was the first time he’d heard those words from him. He pulled at Gibbs’ t-shirt to pull him closer and pressed their lips together, leaving just enough opening for their tongues to meet. Gibbs pushed him against the counter, then lifted him up to sit him on top. Riley began sliding his jeans down while Gibbs pulled off his shirt._

_FLASHBACK_

Tim felt like an outsider. Gibbs and Riley had a complete history that daunted anything Tim had with Riley. Riley’s life had appreciable history with Gibbs, the training, the experience, even cabinets that Riley still had at the house, and yet Riley never mentioned any of it to Tim. He also remembered Riley’s .45-caliber Colt engraved with _Semper Fi_ , and finally understood it was more than just a spare pistol to Riley. The irony settled into Tim that Riley spoke of feeling like second place to Gibbs, yet now Tim felt like _his_ relationship with Riley was second place.

Tim looked down at the floor. “You loved him too?”

Gibbs nodded. “Yes. Very much. In some ways I still do, but differently. You never stop loving the good ones, even if it doesn’t work out.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“Same reason neither of us told anyone – we agreed not to,” he admitted. “I could tell Riley wasn’t happy having to keep it a secret especially to the team, the closest thing he had to a family. But we both understood the risks when we started seeing each other. Even with that risk he still let me in.”

Tim shook his head. “He didn’t like when I wrote his character, Ryan Matthews, as a woman just to keep appearances for my book,” Tim remembered with a twinge of guilt, seeing more of a pattern in the relationships than he liked. “He still encouraged me to keep writing it and making it as real as I could. Even having to compromise like that, he let me in too. Why did it stop between you two?”

Gibbs massaged his forehead with his hand and explained, “He had tried to be respectful of my routine, but he needed something more than just building boats and cabinets. He brought me to his cabin hoping that integrating me into his life would somehow help me move on from Shannon and Kelly, but it didn’t. We had been together for just over a year, but we both knew eventually it had to end. We had a bad fight at the cabin trying to give some credence to the relationship. Riley didn’t want things to be a secret anymore, but we knew it would cause trouble and neither of us wanted to end it and be alone again. When his father died, it was the last straw. He felt like an orphan. He was lost and needed a real home, something of his own that was real and wasn’t a secret, and I couldn’t give him that.”

_FLASHBACK_

_Gibbs sat on the sofa looking towards the stairs of his house as Riley walked down. Riley had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and kept his face towards the ground and he reached the bottom of the stairs. Gibbs stood up to meet him between the stairs and the front door._

_“You don’t have to leave NCIS because of this, Riley. You should stay. I want you to stay.”_

_“No, Jethro, I can’t,” he replied without looking up. “It’s just everything. Maybe before Dad died I could’ve, but… I need a fresh start in every way. I don’t know how to adjust to this new normal while carrying all this baggage. You know you and I aren’t getting anywhere. Your heart is still with your girls, and I love you too much to get in the way of that.”_

_Gibbs sighed and took Riley into his arms. Riley released the bag and leaned his head into Gibbs’ chest, and Gibbs kissed him lightly on the forehead. “I’m sorry.”_

_Riley finally looked up at him and whispered, “Me too, but this is the right thing to do. It’s best that it be over now before we end up hating each other. I’d hate to consider myself one of your ex-wives.”_

_Gibbs lowered his eyes and whispered, “Yeah.”_

_Riley gave Gibbs one last slow, tender kiss on the lips before picking up his bag and heading out the front door._

_FLASHBACK_

Gibbs looked up brokenly into Tim’s eyes. “It was wrong to keep him stuck in that basement waiting for me to live, and it’d be wrong to do the same thing to you. That’s why I never said anything.”

Tim could see the beginnings of tears in Gibbs’ eyes and felt them in his own. He’d never seen him this emotionally raw and had no doubt he was telling the actual truth. He finally understood what Riley meant. Riley was second in Gibbs’ life because his late wife and daughter were still first, and when Tim had said Gibbs’ name Riley felt like he was second again. “That’s why you didn’t make a move on me? Just because you didn’t want us to have something and fail?”

“I didn’t want to risk losing you the way I lost Riley,” Gibbs took a breath in to steady himself and looked away. “He promised me that our breakup wasn’t why he was leaving NCIS, but I still feel responsible even now.”

Tim shook his head and sighed. “It took him a while to get over you. That’s why he said he couldn’t compete with my feelings for you, because he knew what it was like to be in love with you and thought I would choose you over him.”

Gibbs nodded depressingly and ran a hand through his hair. “He still thinks you will. But you haven’t, and you’re right not to. He still loves you, Tim, and you can both pull through this. I’ve already lived the best part of my life. It’s not going to happen again for me. I lost Shannon and Kelly in the worst way, and even though I had failed marriages to learn from before being with Riley, I still lost him because I couldn’t move on. He wasn’t like the women I dated, trying to replace my girls. He was different. He was just Riley to me. But it still wasn’t enough.”

“I wish I would’ve known before,” Tim mumbled as a tear dropped from his eye. He leaned forward again towards Gibbs. “Why did you wait so long to tell me all of this? Did you think that I’d just leave NCIS because we wouldn’t happen?”

Gibbs huffed out a sigh. “That was part of it, but I guess I really just hoped I wouldn’t have to tell you at all. I hoped you’d find a real relationship on your own, and you would naturally move on without me having to let you down. When Abby told me that Riley came around and showed an interest in you, I distanced myself from you so you’d notice him more. And of course, Abby stepped in, breaking my computer over and over so you’d avoid me and be around for Riley.”

Tim frowned and looked away at the window as it got darker outside. “So Abby figured you and me out. And she wasn’t just guessing about you and Riley either, was she? She knew?”

“I think she figured it out after Riley left NCIS. We never talked about it, but I could tell she knew something had happened. She called me the night you met him.”

_FLASHBACK_

_The team stood around their desks in the NCIS bullpen having just completed their mission at One Club. Riley held out his hand like a gentleman and McGee shook it._

_Riley turned to Abby and asked, “Hey, do you know where Gibbs is? Been a while.”_

_“I think he already went home,” Abby replied. She already knew Gibbs had gone home, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to point Riley straight at him just yet while he showed interest in McGee._

_Riley shrugged. “Alright, no big deal. Anyway, I gotta get this back to the Bureau and get showered up. I’ll stop by in a few days and we can have that duel if you’re not too busy,” he looked hopefully at McGee. He then gave Abby a final squeeze and said, “See ya.”_

_Abby sighed as they watched Riley leave. “You know what, I’m gonna call it a night too. Bye guys!”_

_Once she was clear of the bullpen, she bolted for her office in the back of her lab. She whipped out her phone and dialed Gibbs while the door slid closed._

_Gibbs was just beginning to drill into the boat frame when he heard his phone ring on the workbench._

_“Hey, Abby,” came Gibbs’ voice over the phone._

_“Gibbs!” she squeaked excitedly but anxiously. “We ran into Riley today at the club.”_

_Gibbs’s heart dropped for a moment at hearing the name. He looked at the workbench and remembered feeling Riley’s naked skin as he thrusted into him from behind while leaning on the workbench, and he saw an image of Riley coming down the stairs like he had many times before._

_“Gibbs?” Abby asked after the silence._

_“Yeah. Good,” he quickly replied after pulling himself from his memory._

_“He asked about you, so he may be coming to see you.”_

_“Is that why you called, Abs?”_

_She was silent for a moment as she paced her lab nervously. “Well, I thought you’d like to know. And also, he met up with the rest of the team. He actually challenged McGee to a hacking duel and I think… I think there was a little something there. I just… thought you should know that he’s around and what he’s been up to. Is there anything you want me to do?”_

_Gibbs nodded at what she was trying to say. “Not tonight. Goodnight.”_

_“Goodnight, Gibbs.”_

_Gibbs looked around the basement as he tried to imagine what it would be like to see Riley. He wasn’t like Gibbs’ exes that he dreaded seeing, but if Riley had an eye on McGee, it could solve the problem of McGee’s crush before it became a more serious problem. It would mean pretending to be angry at McGee to drive him towards Riley, but he could figure something out. He needed to make sure that neither he nor Riley would be too tempted at seeing each other again, though. He clicked through the contacts on his phone and dialed Hollis Mann._

_“Hello, Jethro,” a woman’s soft voice came on the line._

_“Hey Hol. Just finished up a case, you think you have some time to come over tonight?”_

_“Yes, please, it’s been a long day,” she replied gratefully. “I was going to order Chinese tonight, are you interested?”_

_“Send it over here, I’ll be waiting.”_

_FLASHBACK_

Gibbs took another sip of his beer, which was becoming lukewarm from neglect, and set it aside. “He once told me he rarely fell in love, but when he did he fell hard and fast. I hoped he’d win you over instantly.”

Tim stood up and paced to the window, unable to believe what he was hearing. It wasn’t just about Riley anymore; it was what had happened around them both without him even realizing it. His blood boiled in his skin and he felt disoriented. He started feeling and remembering things he hadn’t even realized he was holding in. “What the _hell_ is wrong with all of you? You- You- you just pulled my strings and manipulated me so you wouldn’t have to actually TALK to me about this?! You yelled at me, made me think you were angry at me for the _chance_ I’d run to Riley?”

Gibbs gave him a frantic look. “I was trying to help you move on! Would there have actually been a good time to talk about it? Was there ever a good time for me to tell you I love you and can’t be with you for your own good?”

“Yeah, before leaving me here!” Tim spat. “If it’s true that you had feelings for me, why did you just quit and abandon me when you ran off to Mexico? Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“Leaving was a mistake,” Gibbs confessed shamefully. “I had only just regained my memory, I was pissed off, and I needed to get away from all the bureaucratic bullshit that was happening. Leaving had nothing to do with you. But only it was only after I left that I realized what I’d left behind, including you.”

Tim was fuming as he stood facing Gibbs, tears still welling from the pain he was feeling. “And then you just came back, but not even for me, it was for _Ziva_. I was so close… _so_ close to being over you and moving on. I made so many excuses, blaming the trauma from the explosion, not wanting to bother you after a tough case, just so many excuses as to why you wouldn’t talk to me. But then you started doing all the same things again and still pretended like nothing was happening. If you knew we could never be together, why the hell would you do that to me?!” His voice started to break. “How can you sit there and tell me you love me when you’ve strung me along for years? And even Abby…”

“Don’t blame Abby,” Gibbs replied sternly. “She was looking out for you. If anything, she was trying to keep you from pining after me when Riley was right there. This was all my fault, Tim. I wanted you to be happy, and it was too hard to break your heart when you had no one to fall back on. I tried to do the right thing by keeping my distance when you met Riley, and even there I failed. I wanted you, I was jealous, and in the elevator when we talked after you and Riley got together it took every ounce of strength in me not to take you then and there.”

Blazing hot tears rolled down Tim’s cheeks, his eyes still angry. “You made me think I made it all up… everything I thought…”

Gibbs asked softly, “If I had told you then that it was all real, would you have turned around and left to be with Riley like you did?”

Tim trembled but didn’t say anything. He knew the answer, and he knew that everything he said and felt now proved that Riley was right – that Tim wasn’t completely over Gibbs like he thought. But if he were given the choice now, he wouldn’t even give Gibbs a chance.

Gibbs continued, “I’m sorry for how things happened, I really am. I made more mistakes than I can count. You don’t know how hard it is to give up not just one but _two_ men that you love so they can be happy together right in front of you. Don’t let Riley go just because of me.”

Tim shakily sat in his desk chair and turned away from Gibbs. He buried his face in his hands and rocked gently back and forth as emotions battled within. Gibbs reached for him and rested a hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“Don’t!” Tim yelped and jolted away from his chair. “Just… no. Go. You lied to me and manipulated me. Don’t ask me to feel sorry for you after all that. Just leave.”

Gibbs’ eyes widened but he didn’t move away. “I still have your back, Tim. I’m still your Team Leader and I’ll protect you no matter what.”

“That’s what you said before, and you were lying about everything else,” Tim breathed and took a step back towards his bedroom.

Gibbs nodded and started walking back towards the door. “Take some time. Don’t make a decision you’ll regret because of my mistakes.”

Gibbs gently closed the door behind him as he left. Tim stared at the door, his thoughts careening through a whirlwind of feelings while he tried to wrap his head around everything that was just revealed to him. He felt sorry for what both he and Gibbs had put Riley through, but couldn’t even comprehend facing Gibbs or Abby at work knowing what they had done to him. He decided to take a Xanax from an old prescription and chased it with another sip of his beer, hoping the cocktail would help numb his mind and let him rest. He sauntered to the bedroom and closed the blinds, then pulled the covers over his head. He didn’t make a sound as his eyes stayed open in the dark, silently and slowly releasing a tear every now and then. Just before closing them, he realized that he couldn’t count on a team that he couldn’t trust. He couldn’t regret putting honesty and trust above good intentions. His time on Gibbs’ Major Crimes Response Team needed to come to an end.


	20. Chapter 19

NCIS

Monday morning came with dread for McGee knowing he’d be seeing Gibbs again. He could avoid going to Abby’s lab, but there was no getting around working with Gibbs. Even with Gibbs telling him not to blame Abby, she was just as much to blame for keeping secrets as Gibbs. He tried delaying going to work as long as he could without being late, and the tension was clear as he drifted passed Tony and Ziva’s desks. He almost wished Gibbs had been sitting at his desk just to get the discomfort of the first look over with. Tony noticed McGee’s slightly hunched shoulders and somewhat aloof walk.

“Rise and shine, McGee,” Tony called as he checked his watch. “Don’t worry, the boss-man didn’t notice you coming in late.”

McGee replied in a quiet, deadpan voice, “I’m not late. I’m on-time.”

Tony exchanged skeptical looks with Ziva, then looked back to McGee. “You alright there?”

“Terrific,” McGee mumbled, not even fully aware of the other agents’ presence or furtive glances as he scanned through his work emails and got set up for the day.

Ziva shrugged and returned to her computer. Tony studied McGee curiously, but decided it was too early to investigate. After few minutes, Gibbs returned to the bullpen with a fresh cup of coffee. McGee heard him coming and locked eyes with Gibbs as he approached. The older man’s cold blue eyes no longer set McGee on edge waiting for orders. Instead, he felt resentment and mistrust bubbling inside him as he wondered what Gibbs would be hiding from him today. His instincts moved him to avoid Gibbs’ gaze, and only steal a quick glance at him when McGee thought he wouldn’t be looking. Gibbs silently gritted his teeth as he sat down and felt the air thicken with tension.

Gibbs’ presence reminded McGee of his thoughts from the previous night about leaving the team. In his anger towards Gibbs, he thought it would be satisfying to leave NCIS completely and let that weigh on Gibbs’ conscience for manipulating him, but he remembered Riley’s regret of leaving NCIS when he felt lost and aimless. McGee didn’t think he felt lost, but just that he couldn’t stay where he wasn’t appreciated or told the truth. After a night’s rest and a fresh take on the issue, he decided he’d be better off staying within NCIS but transferring to a different unit, possibly even a different area.

While the other agents performed their morning tasks, McGee started browsing around the various job postings within NCIS and the different branches available. There were some openings for a Senior Agent in Cyber Crimes, but he didn’t want to let his momentum as a Field Agent go to waste. A division in Los Angeles called the OSP (Office of Special Projects) intrigued him. They had more advanced technical requirements than Gibbs’ MCRT which would challenge and further develop his technical skills while still maintaining a Field Agent status. It would require moving clear across the country, which meant that he and Riley definitely wouldn’t be getting back together.

McGee hadn’t even considered what he’d do to get Riley back. It felt good yelling at Gibbs the previous night, and even better throwing him out of the apartment. He was still resentful of Gibbs and didn’t know if that constituted actually being over him. But on the other hand, he felt a great deal more closure knowing that he didn’t make up the things that had happened, and that it never would’ve worked with Gibbs. It may not have been everything he needed to convince Riley, but it was a good start after just one night. He decided that OSP would at least be a worst-case-scenario in the event that the rest of his life decided to collapse as well, but he started considering a transfer to Cyber Crimes or Cryptology if things on the team didn’t improve.

He started printing out a Transfer Form, though the program briefly froze before actually printing. While it was printing out, Tony discreetly stood up and exited the bullpen as he normally did around that time for a bathroom break. Tim quickly hid the form in a manila folder as Tony passed, then discreetly started filling it out. He touched the pen to where he’d put in his signature, but he hesitated. He looked up at Ziva, who sat at her desk with the usual level of interest in her work that she could muster on a Monday morning. McGee couldn’t blame her for what had happened since she only just met Riley and couldn’t have known about his past. She and Tony did, on the other hand, sneak around trying to get a handle on him and Riley for their own entertainment. However, McGee figured that the pranks he and Riley played on them were enough to call it even. He was curious if Tony knew what had happened. Tony knew Riley was gay, but McGee wasn’t sure if he knew about Riley and Gibbs being together all that time, or if he’d guessed about McGee’s feelings for Gibbs. If he knew, he was just as spiteful as Gibbs or Abby for not telling him, but McGee wasn’t going to assume.

McGee’s computer chimed with an update from one of his programs, which snapped him out of his reverie. After reading it, he knew he’d have to speak to Gibbs, but he was just happy to have something else at work to focus on. He stuck the folder into one of this desk drawers and spoke up.

“Boss, I just got an update from our Pax River drug case. One of their dog handlers didn’t show up for work,” he tapped a few keys and brought up a file on the TV, “Petty Officer Kyle Hanson, he hasn’t reported for two days.”

“Grab your gear,” Gibbs ordered. “McGee, with me. David, wait for DiNozzo and grab a second car.”

McGee’s hope for a work-focused day vaporized upon hearing he’d be alone in the car with Gibbs. Nonetheless, he quickly printed a warrant and took down the address, then strode with Gibbs to the elevator. Ziva smiled evilly knowing Tony’s lateness meant she would get to drive. Tony came sprinting back from the bathroom and saw Ziva standing with her gear bag.

“Did I miss it?” he called.

“Just came in,” she replied.

He dove down to his desk to grab his coat and bag, but his attention was drawn to McGee’s printer loudly printing out another document behind his desk. “Dammit, Probie, don’t leave without the warrant!”

He quickly swiped up the page, though when it didn’t resemble the expected warrant, he read the heading again. It was another copy of an NCIS Transfer Form, mistakenly printed by the error in the program. Tony’s expression dropped and his eyes went wide with shock and worry as he looked at the form, then at McGee’s empty desk.

“Tony!” Ziva called.

Tony remembered the task at hand, crumpled up the form, and threw it in the trash can on the way out.

Once in the car, Gibbs asked for the address but said nothing more as they sped away from the Naval Yard. McGee tried to keep his focus on work as they drove, hoping that Gibbs wouldn’t say anything at all. Gibbs got the hint, even without it being clearly written in McGee’s body language. McGee felt the tension rise while the temperature seemed to fall inside the car, but it wasn’t long until they screeched to a halt in front of the Petty Officer’s house with Tony and Ziva right behind them. McGee bolted out of the car and started heading down the side before Gibbs could even tell him to go around back, more than anything just to have a moment alone to re-center his focus on the job before apprehending their suspect. He found the rear sliding door open though blocked by curtains.

“In position, Boss,” he whispered into his earpiece. “Back door’s open.”

He heard Gibbs’ pounding on the door, then a crashing inside. He braced himself as he thought he saw movement, then saw a blur as a German Shepard came shooting out of the house and sank its teeth into McGee’s neck. The force of the 70lb dog colliding with him knocked him on his back and took his gun out of his hand, but also unlatched the dog’s fangs from his neck. He instinctively jammed his arm up to protect himself from the attacking dog, but the dog kept after him and began biting and ripping at his arm. He had to roll to reach for his gun, and once he felt it in his grip he didn’t even look where he shot. The bang echoed in his ears but sent the dog whimpering back and to the ground as a small amount of blood splattered over both of them.

McGee panted and grunted painfully as his left forearm and the right side of his neck throbbed from the mauling. He felt dizzy as he tried to stand up, but Ziva rushed out of the house to him. She paused when she saw the dog laying down on the ground with the bloodied gunshot wound in its chest, and her eyes widened when she saw McGee’s injuries. Tony and Gibbs weren’t far behind, each having similar reactions to the scene. McGee felt lightheaded and shakily holstered his gun with his right arm, then stumbled forwards into Ziva.

“McGee!” she yelped and quickly ducked under his shoulder to support him.

Gibbs moved forward and put a hand under his other shoulder, careful not to touch his forearm. “Sit him down,” he ordered to Tony and pointed to a patio chair.

McGee felt uncomfortable as it was and shuddered at the unwanted physical contact with his teammates, especially Gibbs. He tried nudging away even as he was seated in the chair, but his brain was mostly in an irritated fog from the pain, wanting to be by himself to deal with it. He saw the concerned looks from Gibbs out of the corner of his eye and avoided them by staring at the wall, trying to block out thoughts of the pain. Ziva bent down to keep a close watch on the injured dog while Gibbs called for Ducky.

Tony took advantage of Gibbs’ temporary absence and crouched in front of McGee with a snide smile. “First your right arm, now your left. Maybe Riley should get you an Explosive Ordinance Disposal suit for your next birthday.”

McGee huffed angrily and was in too much pain to restrain his mouth. “Oh, fuck off, Tony!”

Both Tony and Ziva were both taken aback, and their eyes went wide with shock. Tony even physically stepped back as if struck across the face.

“Woah!” he howled, though instead of offense his voice carried glee. “There’s a lady present, _McLanguage_! Yikes!”

McGee realized there’s no way Tony could’ve known about the break-up, but bringing up Riley in a joking manner hit a sore spot that pushed McGee past his limits. Even though it did nothing for his physical pain, it did feel good to lash out at someone. The others went back to photographing the scene, which included Petty Officer Hanson’s dead body, a package of cocaine, and a stack of cash. McGee was just starting to get used to the stinging and throbbing of the bites when Ducky and Jimmy arrived with painkillers. While he wanted to be by himself, he was relieved to have Ducky tending his injuries.

Ducky stood up after cleaning and bandaging McGee. “Well, a trip to the infirmary is in order.”

Tony stepped forward and stood next to McGee. “You know Boss, I should get McGee home to change out of his bloodied and ripped clothes. That and…” he paused to think of a plausible excuse, “well he should also get a soda or something to bring his blood sugar up.”

Gibbs eyed him suspiciously, then nodded. “Hurry back, we have a scene to process. Ziva, keep working. Ducky, when you’re done with Hanson bring the dog back to Abby. He’s covered in evidence. We’ll meet you there.”

McGee wasn’t sure what Tony was up to, especially after cursing him out like that, but he was glad for the break from work while his neck and arm still throbbed. He stood slowly to avoid making his head spin, and when he stabilized himself he followed Tony to the car.

“It’s okay, Tony. We don’t have to go all the way to my place, I’ve got spares in my bag,” McGee mumbled as he slid into the front seat.

Tony scoffed, “So do I. But you don’t have a breakfast burrito in there too, do you?”

McGee’s mouth lifted into a small smile as he thought, _‘Of course Tony’s thinking about his stomach.’_ He didn’t notice it was the first smile he’d had that day.

NCIS

They drove to a small roadside shack that served a take-out breakfast that Tony swore by. McGee was pleasantly surprised when he got to sit down at a table while Tony stood in line instead, so he had a few minutes to wonder what Tony’s motive was for these acts of charity. With a break from work and the painkillers setting in, McGee wasn’t feeling as hostile as he did earlier but was still preoccupied with his injuries.

Tony dropped down on the other side of the table from McGee and presented him with a burrito of his own and a drink. “Drink up.”

McGee sipped through the straw and was again pleasantly surprised. “Coke?”

“Told you, you need to get some sugar in you to counter the shock to your system,” Tony stated matter-of-factly.

McGee’s tension loosened as he started into his burrito, but he was still on alert. Tony moaned gratefully as he enjoyed his breakfast and tried not to look like he was waiting for something. He only managed to get half-way through the quick meal before finally breaking the silence.

“So, you wanna talk about it?”

McGee shrugged. “Feeling a little better. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. It won’t happen again.”

Tony chuckled. “Actually, I thought that was hilarious. I’ve never heard you drop the F-bomb before. It was like watching Fraulein Maria swear in front of the _von Trapp_ children.”

McGee managed another small smile. “You’re not trying to prank me again, are you? Because I’m really not in the mood.”

“No, no,” Tony assured him. “That’d be kicking you while you’re down. I’m more in the ‘worried’ zone right now.”

“Ducky didn’t seem concerned,” McGee offered and held up his wrapped hand. “And I still have feeling in my fingers, so it really could’ve been worse.”

“Not what I mean,” Tony replied quietly, then stared him directly in the eyes. “Why are you printing out transfer forms?”

McGee’s half-smile dropped. He set down his burrito and leaned his head into his right hand. “You did NOT go into my desk. That’s just what I needed.”

“Didn’t have to,” Tony grumbled. “Heard your printer going and thought you left behind the warrant again. Turned out to be a transfer form. So… what’s up?”

“Tony,” McGee sighed in frustration, “I’ve had more than my share of rough conversations in the past couple of days. I’d rather not be forced into another.”

Tony’s worried expression grew. “Okay. Well… I just want to know if it’s something I did, if I went too far, or if there’s anything I can do to change your mind?”

McGee looked him over and could tell he was sincere. He wasn’t sure where to begin, or how much he should say. He finally decided he had enough of trying to keep secrets. “Did you know I had a thing for Gibbs before Riley showed up?”

Tony looked truly dumbstruck. “You—G—Wait, you _what_?”

That was enough for McGee to know he was innocent. He could easily tell when Tony was faking disbelief, and knew he wasn’t now. “Forget it, it doesn’t really matter anymore anyway.”

“No, I-I-I’d say it matters,” Tony stammered. “But… _Gibbs_?? Really? What about Riley?”

“Riley and I broke up,” McGee admitted bitterly. “Just this weekend.”

Tony sighed disappointedly. “Oh dammit, Tim, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. But what does that have to do with transferring out? It’s not like you work together. And well… I had no idea you had a thing for Gibbs, but it shouldn’t make you transfer out.”

McGee sighed and took another drink. “It’s just… it’s more complicated than that.”

Tony’s eyes widened alarmingly. “Erm… you didn’t… you know?”

McGee shook his head tiredly, making Tony exhale with relief. He didn’t get the sense that Tony was looking for dirt this time, but that he was actually concerned. In some ways he thought he’d miss both Tony and Ziva if he left, and those thoughts started to create doubt in his plan.

Tony tried not to dig further into the subject per McGee’s request. After a full minute of uncomfortable silence only broken by the sound of chewing, he couldn’t hold back. “Tim, I’m dying here. I can’t just sit back knowing there’s a problem, it goes against my investigative instincts. What happened that made this much of a mess that we as a team can’t fix?”

“It’s the team that’s the problem,” McGee blurted out. The stress from the last couple of days was bubbling up in him, but it wasn’t anger that he was feeling. He was feeling sadness from the pain and was too exhausted to hold it back. Tears welled in his eyes as his mind relived each feeling, and he covered them with his hands. “I was manipulated by people I trust. I was pushed towards Riley so that my feelings for Gibbs wouldn’t be a problem. I was lied to about things I held so close and it cost me the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Tony stared at McGee with his hands folded in front of him and pursed his lips. He took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something I have not told anyone. I nearly quit two months ago.”

McGee lowered his hands from his face and looked curiously at Tony. It had felt good giving out the surprising news instead of receiving it like he had been for the last few days. But while Tony almost quitting was news, McGee felt too emotionally jaded to be shocked by it.

“You know the assignment I was on, the one to find La Grenouille?” Tony continued. “There was a girl involved, his daughter Jeanne. I had to get close to her, and…” he paused and clenched his fist, “I had to make it real to make it work. I let myself fall in love with her knowing full well I’d have to break her heart and my own when it was over.”

“I remember,” McGee mumbled. “You were upset for a while.”

Tony nodded. “I had only intended to let it get so far, but… I guess you could say I was forced by those in charge to take it further. I guess I fooled myself into thinking it would never come to an end like that, that she would never have to learn who I really was. Afterwards, Jeanne left me a note asking me to choose between her and NCIS. What I never told anyone was that after I found that note, I went home and packed up half of the clothes in my apartment into suitcases. I couldn’t imagine trusting people who would make me cross that line, to rip out part of me, to lie to the team who are the people closest to me, and to make me do all the things I did to an innocent person. So, I went into work the next day fully intent on turning in my badge and my gun as soon as I figured out where she was headed. But cases came up and I had to work with the team again, and it made me realize that despite everything I had done, the team still had my back. Over time we rebuilt that trust. But mine and Jeanne’s relationship was based entirely on a false person, so leaving NCIS wouldn’t fix it. Nothing would, not even honesty.”

McGee was still as he listened. He still wasn’t surprised by Tony almost leaving, but knowing how it felt, he was surprised that Tony stayed. Tony was right that in itself, leaving NCIS wouldn’t fix the issues with Riley other than McGee no longer being around Gibbs constantly. It was something, but not enough. “It’s not just about getting Riley back, though. It’s about me too. How did you start trusting Gibbs again?”

Tony ground his teeth now having confirmation that Gibbs was at the root of McGee’s problems. “It wasn’t Gibbs, it was Shepard. She started treating me like a more senior agent, giving me opportunities and clout, but more importantly she wasn’t personally involved in the cases anymore. She showed me that she could be trusted professionally, and she lived up to her promises. I guess if this all _just_ happened, Gibbs hasn’t exactly had time to do any of that yet, has he? And I’m guessing based on the fact you said ‘people’ that the other person is Abby, and she hasn’t had time either.”

McGee shook his head and replied sullenly, “I think Abby wanted to tell me, now that I think about it. She was bursting with a secret when I was first asking about Riley and now I know what it was. But I haven’t talked with her, I only talked to Gibbs. He apologized to me.”

“Woah,” Tony replied in awe. “That’s like… I’ve heard him put innocent admirals through the ringer with barely any a nod of acknowledgment. He must really mean it.”

“Maybe,” McGee mumbled. “That doesn’t make it any easier or make it enough.”

“What about when he saved your life at the warehouse raid?” Tony suggested. “That’s gotta count for something, and it should at least earn him some time after all this.”

McGee shrugged.

Tony continued, “Give it a few weeks, and if things don’t even look like they’re getting better then you’ll know. But don’t just up and leave, Tim. Please.”

McGee looked into Tony’s pleading eyes, and the sincerity was once again almost shocking. It almost brought a tear to McGee’s eye but did produce a hint of a smile. Tony may have pranked him hundreds of times, but only now did it feel like the treatment from an older brother that was now there for him. He nodded affirmatively.

Tony sighed. “Good. Now, what about Riley? What’s the deal there?”

“I don’t know,” McGee sighed. “I haven’t talked with him since Saturday night. Things about Gibbs surfaced, and he said I needed more time to be over it. I didn’t try to lie to him, I just didn’t think it was an important detail, so I never told him. But apparently it was. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was right, I did need more time to actually sort things out. I let Gibbs have it yesterday. I yelled at him hard about a lot of things that were on my mind. I really gave it to him. I just don’t know if Riley will think it’s enough.”

“Does he know you’re thinking of quitting?”

McGee shook his head. It wasn’t his place to tell him about Riley and Gibbs, even if he was tired of secrets. But that thought triggered something in his head. He stared at the table as an idea started forming in his head. “Secrets,” he whispered.

Tony leaned in. “What?”

“Tired of secrets,” McGee continued quietly. “So what if it’s not?”

“If what’s not a secret?” Tony asked earnestly.

McGee started smiling genuinely as the idea blossomed. “Any of it. Everything between us… That’s what I have to do. I’m going to write it.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Write?! No, no, you’re trying to win Riley back, remember? Writing a dopey caricature of him in your book won’t inspire him to get you back on his good side.”

“I’ll write the real one,” McGee answered confidently. “I’m going to write mine and Riley’s story as real as I can, and I’m going to send him a copy before I publish it. He’s tired of lies and secrets, so I’m going to make it true and public that I love him and want to be with him.”

“Huh. You know, that’s actually not a horrible idea,” Tony smiled. “If you think it’ll work, go get him, McGee.”

McGee grinned and stood up. He felt good for what felt like the first time in years. Armed with the boldest plan he’d ever made he started walking to his car to go home, but when he looked around and realized it wasn’t there.

Tony smirked and smacked the back of McGee’s head on his way to the fleet sedan. “ _After_ the case, Probie.”

NCIS

After having his wounds cleaned, medicated, and re-dressed by Ducky, McGee was happy to have restored full use of his left arm and hand with only a dull ache in any of the bites. He had spent a good portion of the afternoon watching security footage of a C-130 at the Pax River base, which meant that for the most part he wasn’t working closely with Gibbs or Abby. He narrowly avoided having to fingerprint the entire C-130 with Tony and Ziva thanks to Gibbs needing him to cross-reference knife tips for a piece of evidence. He was sure that Abby could’ve done the same task, but had a feeling that Gibbs was trying to be extra-nice to him and get him out of a laborious crime scene while injured. During the car rides with Gibbs to and from the base, McGee occupied himself taking notes on his phone for what he wanted to write in his story. Gibbs made no attempt to mention their last conversation and resumed the normal-distance behaviors he had adopted over the last month.

After talking with Tony, McGee decided he needed to talk to Abby instead of avoiding her. He remembered that she wanted to tell him something but couldn’t, so it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t openly talk with him about Riley and Gibbs. He wanted to offer her a chance to be fully open and honest with him now that he knew everything, and to see what she thought of his plan. His only hesitation came from Ducky telling him how she fawned over the dog that mauled him, and from hearing that she was nearly barricaded in her lab until the dog needed medical attention. He decided to call her and have her come up to the bullpen, knowing that she’d leave the dog in the lab to recover.

“Timmy!!” she called as she jogged over from the stairs. She came over and threw her arms around McGee as he sat. “There you are! I was worried when they said you were hurt, then I was furious because I heard you were the one that shot that poor dog, but then when you didn’t come see me I was even more worried you were-”

“Abby, Abby!” He interrupted with a smile. “I’m okay, I just avoided the lab because I really didn’t want the dog to think I was offering him lunch too.”

She withdrew and gave him a look of shocked disgust. “He is a sweet, defenseless dog, McGee!”

His jaw dropped. “Defenseless?!” He pointed to the neck bandage and lifted his sleeve to show his arm. “That dog tried to rip me limb from limb and nearly succeeded.”

Abby shut her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. “Fine, I will overlook your overreaction if you pitch in $10 for flowers for Jethro’s recovery.”

McGee blinked confusedly at the name. “Wait, what? Jethro?”

“Yeah, that’s his name,” she replied like it was perfectly natural. “He’s strong, handsome, and quiet, so it seemed like the most fitting name as opposed to ‘ _Butch_.’” She sneered at the name as she spoke it.

McGee’s eyes rolled as he reached for his wallet. “He certainly wasn’t handsome or quiet when _I_ met him…” He pulled out a $10 bill but held it back from her.

“What?” she asked.

“How about this: I’ll give _Jethro_ -” he spoke the name uneasily “- a clean slate and $10 for flowers _if_ we can talk.”

Abby smirked sarcastically and sat at the edge of the desk facing him. “Like we’ve ever needed to barter to talk before? What’s up?”

He stared contemplatively at her, thinking of how to say it. Simplicity seemed best to him. “I know about Riley and Gibbs, I know you knew about my feelings for Gibbs, and I know that you got me in trouble with him to set me up with Riley after we first met.”

The color drained from her face and her jaw slackened to bring her mouth open in shock. Her eyes were wide and she stood perfectly still. McGee had never seen her be completely speechless before, and he wasn’t sure whether to wait for a sign of life or to keep talking after blindsiding her with a statement like that.

She stammered as she started to explain, “T-Tim, I’m- I’m- I-”

“Breathe,” he instructed with a slight smile. As it was with Tony, McGee felt nice being on the other end of surprising news for once in a few days.

Abby breathed deeply and steadied herself with a hand latched onto McGee’s shoulder. “Tim, please don’t be mad. I’m sorry, I really couldn’t tell you.”

He nodded sympathetically. “I know you couldn’t tell me about Gibbs and Riley being together. You even said it wasn’t your secret to tell. But I just don’t get why you didn’t talk to me about everything else. You could’ve just asked me about what was going on with me and Gibbs.”

Abby shook her head and shrugged. “I wanted to, but… it’s _Gibbs_. He’s like… you know how he is. He’s like the bossy, silent, grumpy, but nice sort of- well… like…”

“Father-figure?” McGee completed, knowing how she felt.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “It was just hard to think of you and him, and harder to think of even _talking_ about it. It was weird enough when I figured out he and Riley were together, and then Riley just left. When I saw him again, it made me remember it all.”

McGee squeezed her hand with his. “Why did you go through all the trouble of breaking Gibbs’ computer? You could’ve just given Riley my number, couldn’t you?”

She squeezed his hand back. “You’d been following Gibbs like a puppy for years. I honestly thought at one point I’d need to fit you with a shock collar to get you to move on.”

McGee chuckled at the thought. “I doubt Riley would mind that right about now.”

Abby raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Isn’t that a little too kinky for you?”

“It’s not kinky, it’s complicated,” he replied hesitantly. “We broke up.”

Abby’s jaw fully dropped in shock this time.

He raised a hand at her. “Before you say anything, I’m working on a way to fix it, but I need your help to make sure it’s right.”

She blinked confusedly and folded her arms again. “What happened?”

“I… I wasn’t completely honest with him,” he admitted disapprovingly. “I don’t think I was really honest with myself either, and that made it worse. I told him I had feelings for someone when we met, but I didn’t tell him it was Gibbs or that I had been in love with him. He found out in kinda the worst way possible.”

She sharply breathed in. “Ah, yes, well I can’t imagine him taking that well.”

McGee gave her a cynical look. “Well obviously. He did dump me after all.”

She slouched and shook her head at herself. “Yeah, I probably should’ve figured that one. It fits with the pattern.”

“What do you mean?” McGee asked quizzically.

Abby stared at the desk reminiscently. “Riley is really brave when it comes to protecting other people, but he also tends to blame himself for problems with people. I’m pretty sure that’s why he cut and ran when he couldn’t make things work with Gibbs. On top of everything else he was feeling, he felt like he was in Gibbs’ way.”

McGee sighed understandingly as he put the pieces together. “That’s why he had Gibbs come to me. He wanted to make sure the two of us could get together with him out of the way.”

She cracked her knuckles and stared intently at him. “Which means he may be trying to run again. So, what’s the plan?”

He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “All this started because of secrets that we were keeping. In my book, I re-wrote his character, Ryan Matthews, as a woman because of how it’d look for my publisher, and he knows that. But I’m going to change it back and write him as his true self, and my character is going to be with him publicly. I have to write McGregor’s backstory as a romance with Amy because I don’t want to risk anything pointing to Gibbs, but I’m going to write everything else as true as I can and publish it with McGregor and Matthews together. It may end my writing career and it would ‘out’ me for sure, but it’ll be real and it’ll be our story.”

Abby breathed excitedly. “Nice, McGee! That’s absolutely insane and so romantic! But… are you sure it’s the right thing? Is that what he wants?”

“I’m not really sure,” he sighed. “We haven’t talked since the breakup. I wanted to call but he said I needed time to get over Gibbs. Gibbs and I… well we talked and I got a lot out of my system. He told me that Riley said he still loves me. I’m still not sure where we stand right now, but if he still loves me then that means we have a chance. I just need to talk to him before he cuts me off for good. But I’m worried that if I call him now, he still won’t think it’s enough time to be over it all. I just want to tell him that I’m trying to fix it and not just leaving him out there alone. Gibbs and I never could’ve worked out and I’m fine with that now. I’m still pissed off at Gibbs, and I don’t know what to do about it right now, but I don’t want to let Riley go just because of it.”

Abby put her hand on his uninjured hand. “I’d give him a few days, but not much longer. Just enough time to calm down, but not enough to settle on a rash decision. Then, call him and tell him what you’re doing with the story.”

He looked up at her with uncertainty. He thought about telling her about his thoughts of transferring, but he didn’t want to upset her if he wasn’t really going to be going anywhere.

“And if he doesn’t like it,” she added with a sly smile, “then the story will always remind him of what a good catch he’s missing.”

McGee smiled genuinely once again, despite thinking that morning that he wouldn’t smile for weeks. He stood up and hugged her tightly, and heard a small hum of relief from her. Pulling away, he held up the $10 bill for her to take, but she shook her head.

“Actually, I have a better idea,” she replied with a smile. “I need a bit of a favor, and so does Jethro.”

McGee still winced at her giving the furry beast that name but stood listening anyway.

She continued, “Gibbs talked to the base commander about letting me keep him, and he said yes, but my landlord said no.”

“Hmm,” McGee hummed and nodded, not seeing where this was going. “That’s too bad.”

“I have to find Jethro a good home,” she urged. “And I’m leaving in a few days for a short trip, so I don’t have a lot of time to find one.”

“You’re going somewhere?” he asked with surprise.

“Oh, yeah, just some high school thing, nothing big,” she shrugged and waved it off, though her eyes briefly betrayed uncertainty. She quickly recomposed herself and stood up. “But, Jethro’s a distinguished veteran, and…” she smiled enticingly and placed her hands squarely on McGee’s shoulders,” … He deserves to be happy, McGee.”

McGee’s eyes widened as he finally understood. “Abby, no. No, no, not a chance.”

“You’ve been looking for a dog, Timmy,” she reasoned.

He shook his head urgently. “That dog tasted my blood and I think he liked it.”

“Come on, you said you’d give him a clean slate!” she pulled him towards the elevators. “I’m taking you down to the lab and when you see him, you’ll understand that you and Jethro were meant to find each other and that he was meant to be your dog. Plus, I want to make sure you have company in case things with Riley don’t work out.”

McGee’s jaw dropped. “Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

She pressed the elevator button with a grin. “Anytime.”

NCIS

The very first thing Tim realized when he got home with Jethro was how drastically unprepared he was to bring a dog home that night. As Jethro was let off his leash to explore, Tim became aware that there were plenty of computer cables that suddenly seemed much more exposed than they used to, along with several items around his electronics workstation that could easily disappear into a German Shepherd’s ever-hungry mouth. Jethro at the very least appeared to be housetrained in that he hadn’t relieved himself in the 30 seconds he had been inside, but Tim was nevertheless keeping close tabs on the dog while compiling a list of everything he needed from the pet store.

Tim nervously filled a cereal bowl with some dog food and one of the pills Abby gave him, while the bandage and dull throb in his hand reminded him of the first meal of sorts he’d given Jethro. The dog had been completely calm since the shooting, and Tim hoped he’d stay that way even after both of their bandages came off. Jethro cheerfully trotted into the kitchen and immediately sat expectantly. Tim gave an impressed half smile, then cautiously lowered the bowl where Jethro dove his snout into the kibble. As Jethro was bent down, he noticed the brass plate that read “BUTCH” on Jethro’s collar.

“You know, we’re gonna have to find you a real name,” Tim suggested while filling another bowl with water. “Yours has a… well, they _both_ have complicated stories attached.”

Jethro lapped up the water then looked around the kitchen. His black-and-chestnut coat flexed under the white bandage around his torso as his snout surfed the edge of the kitchen counter.

“What if we shortened it to just Jay?”

The dog seemed indifferent to anything Tim was saying.

“Jay,” Tim called out.

The dog’s ears perked up and he turned to look at Tim for a moment, then resumed searching the kitchen floor for crumbs. Tim raised an eyebrow and decided to test it further. He walked to the other side of the apartment, then called out the name again.

“Jay!”

He heard the clicking of nails on the floor as the dog peeked out of the kitchen at him. Tim squatted down to the floor, which the dog decided was friendly enough. Jay trotted happily over to him and was finally met with a smile from Tim. Tim ran his hands through Jay’s fur and started feeling more at ease with the situation.

“Guess you’re my Jay now, aren’t you? You gonna be a good boy for me?”

Jay tilted his head to the side, not understanding but listening anyway.

“Alright Jay, we’ve got a mission. There’s a guy out there I have to win back. I’ve got to churn out a book and I don’t have a whole lot of time to do it.”

Jay squeaked as he opened his mouth in a large yawn.

“Thanks. You’re a big help. I’m also giving a dog a mission briefing, which says a lot about my sanity,” he quipped sarcastically.

Tim moved to the bedroom to change out of his work clothes and was followed closely by his companion. Before Tim could stop him, Jay leapt up onto the bed and comfortably stretched himself across the center of the king-sized mattress. Tim could already see some fur had shed on his black sheets, and quickly added “dog bed” and “lint roller” to the pet store list.

With Jay resting quietly on the bed, Tim sat at his typewriter and began poring over pages he’d already written with Riley’s female character, Rita. His first task was to re-write them with Ryan Matthews instead, which was simple enough. As much of a fight as Riley pretended to put up about being on the stripper pole, Tim was sure he’d get a kick out of his character actually being there as Riley had in real life. He decided to keep the fight scene in the story to pump up Matthews’ character, and made sure to add in the kiss that changed Tim’s life.

After writing the scene of McGregor and Matthews’ first kiss, Tim’s thoughts drifted to the many kisses he and Riley had shared, and even the vivid sexual dream he had about both Gibbs and Riley. He remembered that Riley had wings in that dream, and quickly made a change to Matthews’ tattoo from dragon wings to angel wings. When he pictured Riley, Tim chuckled at the thought of Riley pretending to be an angel. He was a good guy for sure, though his mischievous streak made him far from angelic. Tim loved that about him.

His first thought when meeting Riley was that he might be too much, too intense and fiery to be interested in someone like Tim. His love for Gibbs kept him safe and away from the unknowns of other people before. It was easier to be alone, knowing exactly how things would be. He thought he had been happy to be alone, but after living for what seemed like a brief moment with Riley in his life, being alone felt like sheer hell. The roles had reversed almost overnight with Gibbs having held him down in darkness and safety, and Riley pulling him away to light and limitless possibilities.

Tim’s breath caught in his chest as he wrote down the feelings into intelligible phrases, then proceeded writing page after page of conversation and story between McGregor, Matthews, and Amy Sutton. It was as real as he could make it while putting only himself in the public’s line of fire. He hoped it would be enough for Riley to realize he meant everything he said, that he wanted only him. But even if it didn’t make things right with Riley, Tim realized that he also wanted to do it for himself. The book he had written before was tacky and thin, with the only real substance being the characters themselves. He had been writing from the brain before, writing what seemed like a good plot for a mystery novel. He had been having trouble lately because this time he needed more than just characters, he needed real feeling. He now had something real to write about, and he wrote from his heart.

He typed until 3 AM when he finally couldn’t keep his eyes open or his punctuation even close to correct. He drifted zombie-like over to the bed and passed out next to Jay, not even needing to turn off the lights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a happy and safe holiday and New Year!


	21. Chapter 20

NCIS

McGee had never been so happy to hear the word “housecleaning” in his life. Housecleaning involved organizing old case files and clearing them out of the team’s computers, desks, and cabinets in order to make room for new ones. The cleanout was expected to take at least two days given that there were three years of cases that needed to be organized and backed up, and the new cases were handled by another NCIS response team. The brunt of the computer work fell on McGee, but he happily accepted it as backing up files was something he could do in his sleep and without too much interaction with Gibbs.

He’d had little sleep for the past few nights as he stayed up late writing his book but woke up early to walk Jay. Getting up earlier would have to be a permanent adjustment, but he’d made excellent progress with his writing and hoped to be done the rough draft by the weekend. Occasionally while he waited for something to process on his computer, he’d jot down a thought or a line he wanted to use into a notepad app on his phone. This helped reduce distraction while he was working even though he easily glided through the tasks. The additional bonus was that he only needed limited interaction with Gibbs just to get to his computer, while Gibbs dealt with the hardcopies of the case files along with Tony and Ziva.

By Thursday morning, McGee had gotten enough backup hard drives from Supply to begin transferring the files. He had a small cart completely filled with the drives sitting next to his desk while cables ran to all four of the team’s computers, connecting them and allowing McGee to monitor and manage the backup from his own computer. Once the transfer started, he only had to make sure that nothing went wrong. He and Ziva were the only ones in the bullpen, though they were each preoccupied. Ziva’s slamming of her hole-punch stopped startling McGee after about ten minutes while he kept his attention focused on the transfer screen and the drives. He only looked up when he heard Tony yelp after another one of Ziva’s slams.

Ziva grinned at her prey. “Last day of housekeeping, Tony.”

He glared at her with his cell phone in one hand and an open cup of coffee in another. “Well, keep it to a dull roar, will you? I got a hot beverage here.”

McGee’s ears pricked up with danger. “Keep it over there, please,” he warned and peeked over the cart at Tony. “I’m finally able to back up our cases. I don’t need you shorting out three years of our lives with one spill.”

Tony sniggered and strolled over to Ziva’s desk. They whispered quietly back and forth, but McGee didn’t see Tony switch out his coffee cup with an empty one and fill it with holes from Ziva’s hole punch. Tony made it halfway across the bullpen before Gibbs came swooping in.

“What have you all been doing? I’ve been calling,” Gibbs scolded them.

Ziva picked up her phone but there was no dial tone. “Mine’s out.”

Gibbs picked up his own phone and also heard no dial tone, then McGee’s program started buzzing with warnings and the screens around the bullpen began to shut off. The elevator bell dinged in the distance.

McGee’s heartbeat jumped with panic. “No, no, no!” He raced back and forth between the backup units and his computer to find what was wrong. “It’s got power, but I’m getting no connection. The router must be acting up.”

Tony raised his hands and backed away. “It’s not my fault, I didn’t do it this time.”

“That’s right, DiNozzo,” a familiar voice replied. “We did.”

Special Agent Tobias Fornell marched into the bullpen with a small contingent of agents in tow. Gibbs looked up at him with surprise, as did the rest of the team.

“Tobias,” Gibbs greeted. “What’s going on?”

“It’s a shutdown, Gibbs,” Fornell explained.

Fornell continued to explain the finding of La Grenouille, the arms dealer they’d once been hunting, murdered. They were all shocked when they heard, and even Director Shepard had come down to hear the briefing. McGee was about to feel relieved that they could put La Grenouille behind them when Fornell declared:

“This entire unit is under investigation.”

McGee’s mind raced through his illegal hacks of the FBI and the CIA in pursuit of La Grenouille while the FBI agents escorted the team down to the Evidence Garage. McGee looked around at the agents, but Mathis wasn’t among them.

Abby was already waiting very impatiently and pacing in panicked circles while they each considered the FBI’s intent. Eventually she settled down and sat next to him on a large packing crate with a heavy sigh.

He gave her a half-hearted smile. “Feeling better?”

“Not really, but I’m not exactly getting anywhere exhausting myself,” she huffed. “How’s my buddy, Jethro?”

“I changed his name to Jay, actually,” he corrected. “It’s going okay, so far no problems. I’m trying to get used to walking him, I’ve just been really busy.”

She nodded. “The book?”

“Yeah. It’s almost done, but I’m still working on the ending. I haven’t quite figured out the right way to tie it off.”

“You think Riley will like it?” she asked.

He smiled. “I hope so. I haven’t called him yet though.”

“He hasn’t talked to me either,” she frowned. “He’s not here, is he?”

“I didn’t see him,” he replied and shook his head.

The elevator door opened and an agent in a gray suit stepped out. “Agent McGee?”

Both he and Abby looked up, then at each other.

“Good luck,” she whispered.

McGee nodded, then got encouraging looks from Ziva and Ducky but a sarcastically suspicious look from Tony. He rolled his eyes and went with the agent. His heart pounded while Fornell questioned him about his illegal hacking and the part he played in the pursuit of La Grenouille, as well as Gibbs, Shepard, and even Tony. Part of him wondered if Riley was behind the glass watching him, but he was more nervous about ending his or someone else’s career by misspeaking when answering Fornell.

After about an hour, he was finally excused and allowed to go back to the Evidence Garage. He made sure to wipe his brow with his sleeve before the elevator door opened. He didn’t want the others to see any possible sweat. When he arrived, the agent escorting him called for Ziva to be interrogated next. Gibbs casually approached McGee after Ziva and the agent had left, while Tony and Abby leaned in to listen.

Gibbs whispered, “What did he ask you?”

McGee sighed uncomfortably recalling the last hour, then quietly replied, “Mostly stuff about why we started investigating La Grenouille, the Director’s father’s suicide, Tony’s mission, Canada, pretty much everything we’d already documented. I’m not sure what they’re looking for.”

Gibbs continued staring at him, but it was more of a pensive stare like he was thinking rather than silently evaluating McGee’s statement. McGee still felt uncomfortable being too close to Gibbs, and had trouble interpreting Gibbs’ intent. He moved away and sat back on the crate next to Abby looking around. The interrogation and wondering about Riley being behind the glass made him think of a possible scene for his book, so he opened the notepad app on his phone to make a note of it.

He noticed “OMNI” typed on the next line of the notepad, then frowned at it as he didn’t remember putting it there. He thought back through the course of the day if maybe in passing he had put it in when thinking of another scene, but he couldn’t remember. Shrugging it off he quickly erased the four letters and proceeded writing his thoughts for a new scene.

Two more hours dragged by with both Ziva and Ducky each being interrogated. After Ducky returned, he and Gibbs whispered back and forth at one of the tables. McGee returned to tapping through his phone until he was snapped out of it by the chime of the elevator. Gibbs was standing very close to the FBI agent guarding the elevator, which McGee thought was strange, but Gibbs then approached the man coming out of the elevator, Assistant Director Leon Vance.

McGee strained to listen in, then when he heard Vance growl “… intimacy between management and staff…” his eyes shot wide open. He stared at Gibbs and wondered if he had been asked about what happened between them, or what may have happened with Gibbs and Riley. He didn’t know what that had to do with La Grenouille, but if the FBI was trying to stain Gibbs’ character as an agent to pin the murder on him, a romantic history with two subordinate agents would definitely do the trick.

Vance turned to the rest of the team. “If you’ve been interviewed by Agent Fornell, you’re free to go. Just to be clear, do _not_ investigate this case.” He glared sternly at them and turned back into the elevator.

“Ugh!” Abby moaned. “Come on!”

Gibbs pointed to Ducky, McGee, and Ziva, waving them over to him. “Come on, let’s go. Work to do.”

Ziva eyed him dubiously. “On what?”

McGee nodded in agreement. “We can’t investigate the FBI’s case.”

“We investigate the FBI,” Gibbs explained. “McGee, go home and get whatever equipment you can and meet us at my house. Go quickly.”

NCIS

“Wait, that’s not evidence!” McGee shouted over the bustle in his apartment. “That’s my writing!”

Five FBI agents were searching through McGee’s belongings, bagging any electronic device that could store data including the iPod that Abby bought him. Jay was barking as people went in and out carrying bags and boxes from the rooms. McGee became alarmed when they started rifling through his writing desk as well, pulling out the organized pages of his future book.

“That’s all fiction,” he explained to the agent. “It’s a book I’m writing.”

She quickly skimmed the first couple of pages. “This references agents by name. We’re confiscating this.”

“They’re fake names!” he argued.

She shook her head and tuned him out. He looked over to the agent clearing his desk of his computer components, and swiped up the charging cable for his phone. The agents all glared at him and positioned themselves to tackle him, but he held his hands and the cord up.

“It’s just to charge my phone,” he pleaded. “It’s just for my phone.”

They looked at each other conspicuously, then they each agreed.

“Sir, it’s best that you wait outside or leave the premises while we search.” The supervising agent stepped up to him and started leading him towards the door.

McGee added, “Okay, just don’t let Jay get loose. Abby will kill me.”

The agent slammed the door behind him.

McGee’s heart pounded in his chest from the chaos. He felt like a suspect which, in this case, he actually was. Nonetheless he couldn’t stand to see his apartment being torn apart, so he sprinted down to his car and peeled off to Gibbs’ house. The FBI sedan following him made no attempt to stay hidden which didn’t help McGee’s nerves. He dialed Ziva.

_“Are you on your way?”_ she asked immediately upon answering.

“Yeah, but I’m being followed.”

_“Shake them. Don’t let them think you’re heading to Gibbs’. Gibbs wants you to make sure to park two streets over and enter through the hedges in the back yard.”_

“Okay, any tips on shaking them?”

_“Stay away from parking lots and garages, also double back when you can.”_

McGee smiled wondering how many times Ziva had evaded police, then quickly mapped out the first route that came to mind. He remembered a few back alleys that helped him dodge traffic to and from Riley’s apartment during rush hour and decided to use them. He used Ziva’s suggestion of doubling back on a few streets while also cutting through some of the traffic, keeping the FBI car further and further behind him. After rounding several corners and blocks, he couldn’t see the car anymore and proceeded to Gibbs’.

Per his instructions, he parked two streets over and cut through a few side yards to get behind Gibbs’ house, then found an opening in the hedges. He’d never been in Gibbs’ back yard, and realized he’d rarely ever gone to Gibbs’ house. He remembered briefly what Gibbs had told him about Riley being there often, but he had to remain focused on work so he put the thought to the back of his mind. He didn’t see any cable lines or satellite dish that would give him hope for internet access and had to wonder what Gibbs’ plan would be.

He made his way inside and down to the basement. Ziva paced by herself with her arms folded and looked up when she heard him.

“There you are,” she called. “Gibbs and Ducky are both gone. Ducky’s getting the autopsy reports, and Gibbs needs you to hack into Agent Fornell’s computer.”

McGee shook his head. “Well, I’m gonna need to go to a public site. They’ve taken all my computer equipment.”

Ziva grimaced and tried to restrain a stressed chuckle. “Well… Gibbs does have… that,” she pointed to a dusty rectangular plastic box.

McGee examined the box and realized it was a Zenith laptop which he estimated was from the 1980’s, just barely younger than himself. On top was a screwdriver and an ID badge matching the FBI agent guarding them at the Evidence lockup. He wished he had another “get out of jail free” card like the one Gibbs gave to him the last time he went hacking the government, but he doubted this could be legally justified in any way. He needed to be extra careful with how he proceeded. He opened the lid of the laptop and examined it, checking it for any port of use. Side-by-side, he thought it made his phone seem like something out of _Star Trek_.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” McGee moaned.

“I’m not even sure what that is,” Ziva cringed. “But Gibbs seems to think it’ll work, or at least that you can make it work.”

“Um,” McGee stammered as his mind tried to formulate a solution. “We can probably find a way to connect it to my phone and use the cellular connection, but we’re gonna need a lot of wires. Look around and see what we can use.”

They split up and examined the basement. Separate from the hanging tools by the workbench, McGee’s eyes spotted something out of place – the blue handle of a pocketknife jutting out from the middle of the wall. He continued looking around for any sign of wiring when they found some small spools of insulated wire near sets of lightbulb sockets and electrical plugs. As he worked to boot up the computer and figure out connecting it to his phone, he found the day weighing on him and couldn’t stifle a yawn.

“Tough day, McGee?” Ziva asked. “Did they cook you that hard?”

“ _Grill_ ,” he corrected with a half-smile. “It could’ve been worse, but it’s just a lack of sleep. I’ve been staying up writing too late.”

She looked coyly at him. “Writing?”

“Don’t even start,” McGee warned. “It doesn’t focus on your character or Tony’s.”

She huffed satisfactorily. “Just making sure.”

He connected the phone to its charging cable and started running wires to the computer. He went through several command lines on the computer trying to get it to recognize the phone, then he checked the phone to make sure it had signal. They connected, and he grinned as he realized it could actually work. His new phone was successfully tethered and providing data to a computer that was close to 20 years older.

“Here,” he handed the phone to Ziva. “Take this and walk around until you get a signal”

She nodded and slowly walked around, letting the trail of wires swing as she moved. Still with no signal, she climbed onto the boat’s cap and held the phone as high as she could.

“I think it’s getting something,” she called.

“Hold it steady,” McGee instructed as he typed quickly on the computer. The connection was intermittent, but with that old of a computer it was just enough. He continued smiling as his hacking tricks weren’t even necessary to get into the FBI’s systems.

Gibbs returned and sprinted down the stairs. “You got anything?”

“Just barely getting a signal,” McGee replied. “Stay right there, Ziva.”

She looked disbelieving at him as she knelt on top of the boat with her arms stretched high. “Are you serious, McGee?”

Gibbs stood next to McGee, not as close as he once did but close enough to see the old computer’s tiny screen. “Is this gonna work?”

McGee smiled as the connection started going through and reporting data. “I’m just getting into the mainframe now. This thing is so ancient it doesn’t even have the protocols modern day security systems defend against. We should be able to-”

The computer beeped as the connection was terminated.

“Ziva!” he called. “Hold still!”

“I didn’t move!” she yelled. “Your phone just shut off though.”

Frustration surged through him. “What? No, the screen must’ve just shut off. Try moving a little to the left.”

She moved over and also clicked the power button. “Uh, McGee? You should look at this.”

He walked over to her and she handed him the phone. The phone began booting back up, but the screen came up stating:

_Activate iPhone_

_Connect to iTunes_

McGee glared at it in disbelief. “It… it… it did a factory reset! Everything’s gone! It wiped itself!”

Gibbs’ phone chimed with a text message. He looked surprised as he fished his phone out from his pocket, then stared at the phone screen. “I think it had help.”

He tapped McGee on the shoulder and handed him his phone. McGee’s heart rose to his throat as he saw the text message was from Riley.

**Riley Mathis:** _Really, Jethro? If any of you think of leaving before I get there, I’m sending in the team from outside to arrest you._

NCIS

McGee, Gibbs, and Ziva paced downstairs, none of them saying a word. They heard the footsteps inside the house and turned to look up at the basement door as Mathis came through with another agent behind him. He held a very stern look on his face as he rotated looks between the three agents. McGee felt pangs of loneliness and guilt reach past his walls and send his heartbeat skyrocketing. Mathis reached the middle of the staircase, then in a quick and smooth movement he opened a pocketknife in his hand and sent it singing across the basement, lodging its blade dead-center inside the largest gash in the wooden column. McGee could sense the tempered anger and focus from Mathis, but in his face he looked exhausted.

Gibbs hid the smile twitching at his lips, then approached the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Mathis. “You’re working with Fornell?”

“No, but I knew you were being investigated, so I gave a little proactive assistance,” Mathis retorted smartly. “I just didn’t think I’d catch either of you being this stupid, especially _you_ , Tim.” Mathis stared at him, but was avoiding his eyes.

McGee gulped and gripped the workbench tighter. “How did you detect me? That computer went right through FBI detection protocols.”

Mathis took a couple of slow steps around Gibbs as he explained, “Did you even think for five seconds before starting an illegal hack from your _personal cellphone_ while knowing the FBI was quarantining all of your devices? Did you even consider getting a burner phone to mask your tracks? Or did you just jump into action at _his_ orders-” he turned with unveiled contempt and narrowed eyes at Gibbs, who looked away uncomfortably, “-getting your hands dirty like a good soldier?”

McGee was stunned for a moment, then groaned quietly to himself at realizing how careless it was to use his personal phone. He never had issues masking himself from his computer at NCIS, and while he thought he did the same with his personal phone, if the FBI was onto him then they would’ve seen the data connection going out. He had hoped that he wouldn’t see Mathis during the investigation and now that he had, he felt his chances for reunion dissipating. He noticed the palpable tension and especially anger from Mathis directed at Gibbs, though Mathis also carried a weight of disappointment. Gibbs’ face looked somewhat disarmed when confronted by Mathis, the same way he looked when he was at McGee’s apartment opening up about his feelings.

Mathis continued in a low growl at Gibbs, “I wish I could say I was surprised. Why didn’t you ask me for help? _Rule Twenty-Eight._ ”

“I couldn’t,” Gibbs almost whispered. “You’re FBI, you’re with _them_. I couldn’t put you in that position.”

“That’s bullshit, Gibbs,” Mathis raised his voice. “Now you’ve put us all in a bad position, especially him,” he pointed over his shoulder at McGee.

He turned on his foot and crossed the basement, retrieving his knife with an easy tug. McGee thought he heard some kind of crinkle as Mathis walked, but wasn’t sure over the click of his shoes on the concrete floor.

Gibbs sighed. “Why are you here, Mathis? Don’t make this personal.”

“It’s not,” he replied and reached back to his belt to take out a pair of handcuffs. He turned to McGee, though still wouldn’t look into his eyes. He quietly murmured, “I’m sorry, Tim,” then with a deep breath he announced, “Timothy McGee, I’m placing you under arrest for acts of computer trespassing, fraudulent access to government property, and attempted use of a computer to commit espionage.”

McGee’s stomach sank and his eyes went wide with panic as Mathis put the first cuff on his wrist. Ziva began to take an offensive stance awaiting Gibbs’ command. Gibbs held her off with a small wave of his hand.

“Wait, stop,” Gibbs urged and grabbed Mathis’ arm, but Mathis pulled away quickly. “It’s my fault, I ordered him to do it. Arrest me instead.”

A dry smile inched up the corner of Mathis’ mouth, though he tried to hide it. “Is this true, McGee?”

McGee’s heart raced. He didn’t want to shift the blame to Gibbs, but he had been following orders. “I… Yes, but I…”

“Okay,” Mathis replied. “Corbin, arrest Gibbs, too.”

“I said it was my orders! Just me!” Gibbs shouted as the other agent wrenched Gibbs’ wrists behind him and into cuffs.

“That’s not how it works, Gibbs,” Mathis countered icily. “You put him in the line of fire, and he’s getting hit. Read him his rights, Corbin.”

The other agent began reciting the Miranda Rights to Gibbs as the three NCIS agents exchanged frantic looks.

“Boss,” McGee pleaded, wondering if somehow they could get out of it.

“Look at me, Tim,” Gibbs ordered, staring into McGee’s eyes as he was being pulled towards the stairs. “You’ll be okay. This is my fault. I’ll take the fall, just tell them the truth. It’ll be fine.”

“Let’s go, McGee,” Mathis gently nudged McGee to follow Gibbs and Corbin up the stairs.

McGee’s heart pounded and his breath was shallow as he slowly walked up the stairs, slightly imbalanced with the cold cuffs binding his hands behind his back. He started feeling some relief from Gibbs’ assurance, and as it sank in he realized what it entailed. If Gibbs took the fall for both of them, not only would he get jail time, but he would never be able to serve in the government again. He was keeping his word that he would protect McGee, and he was giving it his all. McGee felt his tension towards Gibbs slipping away, and he decided he could try trusting Gibbs again.

They reached the top of the stairs, but instead of turning to take them out the front door, Mathis and Corbin steered them out through the back. Gibbs tried to look back towards Mathis to understand but was pushed forward by Corbin. As they started crossing the back lawn, Mathis pulled McGee to a halt.

“You go ahead, Corbin,” Mathis called. “I need a word with Agent McGee.”

Corbin nodded, and kept leading Gibbs out through the small gap in the hedges. McGee looked with confusion at Mathis, who kept watching as the other two disappeared. Mathis sighed, then he gently took McGee’s wrists and started unlocking the handcuffs.

“What?” What are you…?” McGee stammered as he felt the cuffs loosen and release. “What’s going on, Riley?”

Mathis chuckled and smiled, his tired eyes still avoiding McGee’s gaze. “The FBI doesn’t actually know we’re here, and Corbin owed me a favor so he’s going along with it. I’m just rattling Gibbs’ cage a little bit, reminding him that he’s not invincible and neither are you. Gibbs shouldn’t be making you commit crimes to satisfy his suspicions. As soon as I saw the active investigation into your team, I knew it’d only be a matter of time before Gibbs took matters into his own hands.”

McGee frowned as he massaged his wrists and started feeling awkward not knowing what to do next. “So… you’re not taking us in?”

“Not today, but don’t ever pull a stunt like that again,” Mathis chided playfully but distantly. “I had to reset your phone and wipe your SIM card so you couldn’t hack again before I got here.”

Their eyes met for a moment. McGee could tell Mathis was very guarded and there was uncertainty behind Mathis’ walls that made him quickly break their eye contact.

“Oh, and here,” Mathis continued and started untucking his button-down shirt from his suit pants. “I brought this for you.” He reached around to his back and retrieved a thick file folder tucked inside his shirt and waistband. “It’s the crime scene sketches and statement information you were trying to get.”

McGee’s jaw dropped as Mathis handed the folder to him, then Mathis took a few nervous steps back and nervously scratched through his dark hair. None of this was playing out as McGee had expected, which seemed to be the theme of the day. He felt somewhat guilty and undeserving of Mathis’ help.

“I- I-… thank you,” he stuttered out. “Why are you doing this? Helping us?”

Mathis shrugged, still looking away. “I don’t know. I guess I feel a little bad about what happened the other night, how I yelled at you. I was upset, shocked especially, but I don’t think I was really fair to you. I don’t like leaving things messy. It’s not like I volunteered to tell you about me and Gibbs. I couldn’t, but I probably could’ve. I don’t know, does that make any sense? I’ve just been all over the place. I kinda blew up at Gibbs too.”

“Me too,” McGee admitted, which caught the other man’s attention. He took a deep breath to build his gumption and continued, “Gibbs came to me and told me what happened between you two. I… I had no idea how badly I hurt you and I can’t say enough how sorry I am. You were right, it was real to me and I hadn’t dealt with it as well as I should’ve. I know he asked you not to tell anyone, and I’m sorry you had to keep that a secret. There’s still a lot that I don’t understand, but… but I’ve had time to think about what he said, and… well now I’m hoping things will be okay.”

Mathis’ expression dropped and he folded his arms defensively in front of him. “Oh… So, you and Gibbs are going to…?”

“What?” McGee asked in confusion, then clarified, “No, I mean you and me. I… I want to try again. I want to make this work.”

Cracks appeared in Mathis’ defenses. “I… I…”

Tim felt a spark of hope and let his walls fall, hoping Mathis would do the same. They stood only a few paces apart, and Tim felt himself being drawn like a magnet towards Mathis. He just needed to know that Mathis wanted him back. Neither of them noticed Ziva covertly watching from inside the house, trying to understand what was happening.

Riley trembled slightly and kicked gently at the ground. “I don’t know, Tim. You and Gibbs are two completely different people and yet somehow the exact same thing happened. I wound up second place against something I couldn’t compete with. I don’t want to do that again. I- I… I honestly didn’t even think we’d ever talk about this again. I thought you’d choose Gibbs.”

“I know, but I’m choosing you,” Tim pleaded. “I never got real closure from Gibbs before, and now I have. I promise, it’s you and only you. No secrets, no lies, no one else, no other feelings in the way. I’ve even changed the book to have the real you in it. It says everything about how I feel and what’s happened with us better than I could ever say out loud.”

Riley’s mouth slowly opened in shock. “The book? But… but Tim, why? Your publisher said-”

Tim cut him off with a smile. “I don’t care what my publisher said. The story’s not worth writing without you in it, and neither is mine.”

The air between them buzzed with electric anticipation. Tim looked at Riley, who was visibly struggling to emotionally restrain himself. The sun made Riley’s blue eyes shine as they locked onto Tim’s, and Tim could see Riley’s breath catching in his throat. Tim didn’t know if there was anything else he could say, or if he needed to make another move. After a minute, Riley finally cracked a smile.

“That was a really good line,” he admitted with a quick laugh and a slight blush to his face.

Tim let out a nervous laugh and took a step forward. “I thought of that earlier today and put it in my phone, but I suppose that’s been wiped too.”

Riley smirked. “Probably for the best. It was good, but it was cheesy. I don’t know if Agent Matthews would’ve gone for it.”

Tim grinned and took another step forward. He smiled when he saw Riley also take a step towards him. They were within arm’s reach of each other but both still feeling unsure.

Tim continued, “What _would_ Agent Matthews want from Agent McGregor in this case?”

Riley chewed his lip hesitantly. “I… think he wouldn’t want McGregor to risk something he treasured just for a chance to see if they’d work. If he loved McGregor, he wouldn’t want him to be anything other than himself, right?”

“Does he still love him?” Tim whispered earnestly but fearfully, taking a half-step closer and staying locked into Riley’s gaze. He understood what Riley meant, but he needed to hear the words that would make everything better.

Riley’s eyes glistened with moisture and his lip quivered as he looked up at him. “Dammit, Tim.”

He quickly closed the small gap between them and kissed Tim hungrily. Tim threw his arms around Riley and held him tight, his heart leaping in his chest. He would go through the entire chaos of shocking revelations, painful dog bites, federal interrogations, having his apartment torn upside-down, and being arrested a hundred more times if only to make sure Riley was in his arms at the end like he was now. Back in the house, Ziva threw her hands into the air at the ridiculousness of the whole scene and trudged back to the basement to wait.

Riley gently broke the kiss and nuzzled his face up against Tim’s. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Tim hummed as he ran his fingers through Riley’s hair. “I wanted to call, I _really_ wanted to call, but I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

Riley smiled. “I don’t really know what I wanted. I definitely wasn’t expecting a whole book.”

Tim chuckled. “It made sense to me, but that’s not saying much.”

Riley hummed in amusement as he took a step back, letting their hands glide together. His eyes drifted to Tim’s neck and to the bite scars he hadn’t noticed from the distance. His eyes shot open. “Oh my god… what happened?! Your neck…”

“It’s okay,” Tim assured him with a squeeze of his hands. “I’m alright, I promise.”

Riley nodded, still clearly worried. “What happened?”

Tim shrugged, “I got attacked by a dog on a case. He was dosed with cocaine and I ended up shooting him to get him off me. He’s healing up now, and now that he’s clear of the drugs he’s pretty nice. Then,” he paused and chuckled to himself, still not over the irony of it all, “Abby convinced me to adopt him so he wouldn’t be put down.”

Riley gawked at him in disbelief. “You… you adopted a dog that attacked you?”

“Yeah. Believe me, I still can’t quite believe it myself,” Tim added. “Abby tried to keep him but couldn’t, so she asked me to adopt him. He’s a German Shepard.”

Riley’s jaw slackened into a smile. “What’s his name?”

Tim opened his mouth to reply but hesitated for a moment. “Well… his name is Jay, but that’s short for what Abby named him. I swear, it was her idea.”

“Oh god, tell me it wasn’t…”

“Jethro, yup,” Tim answered.

Riley’s face scrunched as he cackled hysterically and slapped his palm to his forehead. “Oh god,” he groaned defeatedly. “There’s just no getting that man out of our lives, is there?”

Tim shook his head and pulled Riley closer. “Maybe not, but I think there’s still time to change the name if you think I should.”

“No, it’s really fine,” Riley chuckled, then his smile faded, and he chewed his bottom lip nervously. “So… what now?”

Tim sighed, “Well, I’d like for us to be able to talk some more. I don’t know how else to say what I want for us, but I’m hoping when you read the book you’ll understand what I mean, and we can work it out. I’m trying to finish it, but the FBI confiscated my writing since they thought it contained case details, so I’ll have to wait until I get it back before I can keep going. I’m having some trouble finishing the ending, but I’m hoping to have it done by the weekend. Can I bring it by for you to read?”

“Oh, er,” Riley paused as he remembered, “I’m actually going to be at the cabin. King, my boss, told me to take some time off since I’ve been really stressed out for a few weeks. I didn’t really have a choice. I haven’t been myself lately and it’s shown at work. I’m leaving tonight and heading up there until Monday or Tuesday, depending on if anything comes up.”

“Oh…” Tim paused. “I guess I can understand that. I haven’t been myself the last few days, since… well…” He skirted around the words ‘fight’ and ‘breakup,’ deciding he would rather seem vague than negative. “I’m on call this weekend, but I think I can make the time to be there.”

“Yeah,” Riley sighed tiredly. “Listen, I’m not really sure where I’m at right now. It’s not just us, it’s… I haven’t had a real break in a while. Everything’s been a bit of a whirlwind and I haven’t had time to really stop and think about, well, anything. I just know that I’ve been miserable, and I’ve missed you. So… if you finish by the weekend, what would you say to you and Jay swinging by the cabin when you’re off-duty? Then we’ll see where we go from there.”

Tim nodded pensively. It was a promising plan of action, not the neatly-tied best-case scenario he’d hoped for, but it was a good place to start. The team was scheduled to be on-call that weekend, but he figured he could sneak away for a few hours just to deliver the book. He could see how tired Riley looked, and hoped things at the cabin would go better the second time around. “I’ll be there,” he promised.

Riley smiled weakly. “I should probably get back and let Gibbs out of his cuffs. He’s probably already figured out what’s going on, so there’s no point in letting him stew. Just don’t let me catch you hacking Bureau again for another couple of months, alright?”

Tim nodded but leaned down to pull one last kiss from Riley’s lips before he put up his ‘agent walls’ again. “Want me to call tonight?”

The other man hummed happily into his chest. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Tim smiled and released him. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Riley answered without hesitation as he started walking back towards the hedge.

Tim lit up at finally hearing the words he needed, and he felt instantly refilled with confidence. He barely remembered why he had a file folder in his hand, but after reading the first page he snapped out of his romantic reverie and sprinted down to the basement, not even bothering to wait for Gibbs.

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall grumpily dropped her coat and purse onto the desk of her blank, private office. She drank deeply from her morning coffee as she connected and booted up her OMNI laptop. She liked when she only had to meet with Atlanta, DC, and New York since their time was only an hour ahead of hers. However, once Frankfurt or Zurich got involved she had to deal with a seven-hour time difference. Noon was the latest Frankfurt could risk delaying operations awaiting their report, which put a rather begrudging Agent Hall in her office at 5 AM on Friday morning while still having a full day of work at the FBI ahead of her.

She logged into the virtual conference room and found only Frankfurt there, though after another minute the other icons trickled in from Atlanta, DC, and New York. She didn’t bother changing out of her zombie-like demeanor like she normally would since she knew Zero was not going to be presiding over the meeting. Instead, Frankfurt had the lead today, one of his laurels from killing an Original. Hall was in no rush to be heading a 5 AM meeting, though she felt a twinge of envy as she was still waiting for the opportune time to publicly take down her own Original prey.

Frankfurt’s accent was still slightly detectable through the scrambler as he began, _“The auction participants each have selected and reported their targets. Currently, from the United States we have the FBI, NSA, NCIS, DOD, CIA, and two independent buyers, from Israel we have IDF Counterintelligence and Mossad, Hamas and Al-Qaeda have also selected targets, along with three independent Chinese groups and two Russian groups. Profiles are uploading now. Our task is to find the most viable target for the demonstration.”_

One by one, documents and photos organized themselves on Hall’s screen. She lazily panned through them until one caught her eye. The picture of Abigail Sciuto stared back at her along with her NCIS file loaded onto her screen along with the other profiles.

Frankfurt continued, _“Zurich seemed to indicate that the Middle Eastern groups would prefer a target selected from the U.S. as a more effective demonstration.”_

New York’s icon lit up. _“Ordinarily it wouldn’t matter, but with limited international presence we may want to consider their request. If all five U.S. agencies collaborate to come after us after the auction, we’ll want to be on someone’s good side.”_

Atlanta chimed in next, _“With that kind of attitude, we may want to consider ensuring that none of the U.S. agencies win the auction and get the tracking program. If one gets it, they’ll likely share it and become an even worse threat. DC?”_

_“It’s possible,”_ DC agreed, her scrambled voice still familiar to Hall. “ _But on the other hand, the users are encoded to each other, so only we and the winners will know who gets the virus. It discourages sharing, cooperation, and retaliation. Also, we have enough of our own operatives inside the U.S. agencies that it likely wouldn’t come to that.”_

Hall pursed her lips and unmuted herself, letting her southern drawl mix with her voice scrambler. “We should also consider that letting a U.S. agency or non-militant group win would keep our foothold here established. With half of the buyers being political para-military groups or terrorists, we have to expect that this program could bring about the assassination that would start World War III. It’s probably safe to say that the Chinese and Russian groups will likely target someone in the U.S. and keep quiet about it. But if the attacks come from the Middle East, they’ll jump to claim responsibility which means it could get worse out there real fast. The U.S. government might turn on us as the supplier of the program.”

_“Agreed,”_ Frankfurt replied. _“We need to keep as much of our network intact as possible. Narrow down the profiles to the U.S. targets. DC, begin work on the auction platform to ensure that the Middle Eastern buyers have limited connection and can’t be as active in their bidding.”_

_“Understood.”_

Frankfurt lit back up, _“Review the targets and send me your recommendations in one hour. I will present Zero with the target, estimated time for the demonstration will be Sunday at 21:00 UTC. Have all assets on standby. We want this to look as clean as possible.”_

The conference call ended, but Hall continued staring at the screen pensively while she pursed her lips. She contemplated her options, letting Sciuto wait for a few more weeks or taking advantage of her being offered by NCIS as a target. She thought of her initial plan, waiting until after the auction so that Zero would be more likely to allot her control of DC as well, which still seemed practical. However, she figured she could always kill Sciuto now and simply report her later. It would save the trouble of leaving her prey out in the open for one of the other Regional Directors to catch on that she’s an Original.

Hall drained the last of her coffee and tapped through her operatives’ reports on Sciuto from the last few days. No major cash withdrawals, no big purchases on her cards, nothing unusual in her call records. Her tracking program showed that the virus on Sciuto’s phone last pinged at her apartment, but that the phone was currently off. She read the latest reports which indicated that a middle-aged man in a pickup truck dropped off some camping supplies for Sciuto, and then she loaded it all into a taxi and left. The taxi took her to a campground at Black Ridge Woods before sunset on Thursday evening, though she has yet to return.

Hall debated in her head whether the early unplugged weekend was coincidental or meant that Sciuto knew she was being targeted. Either way, Hall couldn’t risk Sciuto disappearing entirely or being claimed by someone else. She needed her own operative to be the one ready. She quickly typed up an encrypted message to her DC operative with just two words: _“Acquire, standby.”_


	22. Chapter 21

_DEEP SIX: ROCK HOLLOW_

_Special Agent Bobby McGregor sat with a tired smile at his desk filling out his latest case report. His unit had been under investigation by the DEA in a baseless witch hunt thinking L.J. Tibbs’ team was covering up evidence from their major drug bust two weeks prior. Now that the team was cleared from any wrongdoing, McGregor was looking forward to catching up with Ryan. It had been days since they’d last seen each other, but they hadn’t had much time to make up after their fight. Their workloads and stress from their jobs had kept them apart, though they were finally able to have an entire weekend to themselves. He could begin relaxing again, which was sorely needed._

_McGregor heard ringing and instantly reached for his desk phone, but then realized he’d forgotten to switch his phone to Vibrate. He reached into his pocket and smiled when the caller ID read ‘Ryan Matthews’ on the screen. He quickly looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him, then answered._

_“Hey,” he whispered. “How are you?”_

_There was a brief pause, then the man’s familiar but exhausted voice replied, “I think I’m okay, it’s been a bit of a day. How about you?”_

_“That bad again, huh?” he replied. “My day has been okay, just finishing my report from the interrogations.”_

_“Sounds fun as always,” Ryan joked, seeming to lighten a little bit. “Are you able to slip out for a quick lunch?”_

_McGregor smiled. “I think so, but you know how it is. I might have to leave in the middle.”_

_Ryan chuckled through the phone. “Oh, I know. How about McGinty’s? I need those killer-”_

_“-Killer wings,” McGregor completed with him, remembering well the place where he and Ryan had their first date. “Sounds good. I’ll be there in an hour.”_

_“I’ll be waiting. Bye.”_

_“Bye,” McGregor whispered and hung up._

_He quickly sped through the rest of his report, now motivated with getting food and seeing Ryan sooner. Tibbs had stepped away from the bullpen, so McGregor left the report on his desk and turned to Tommy while putting on his coat._

_“Hey, I’m heading out for lunch, shouldn’t be too long. Let me know if we get a case.”_

_Tommy notched up his eyebrow with intrigue. “I take it you and Ryan made up, then?”_

_McGregor thought of replying, but instead gave a coy smile and strolled down the stairs and out to his car. He saw Ryan’s silver truck parked outside the bar and sprinted happily inside. He looked around the nearly empty bar and quickly found Ryan sitting in a booth with his right leg propped up on the seat and his head leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed and face relaxed. McGregor quietly walked up to him and leaned against the booth. There was a glass with a few drops of whiskey left and a basket of thoroughly stripped chicken wings on the table, and Ryan’s shirt was unbuttoned under his sport coat._

_“You know,” McGregor began, “I know you can hold your liquor, so those wings must’ve been spiked for you to look like this.”_

_Ryan opened his eyes and shot an uneasy smirk at McGregor. “Oh please, Bobby, you know I only get day-drunk when my favorite bands break up.”_

_Bobby grinned as he pulled Ryan out of the booth and into an embrace. He still was getting used to hearing other people say his first name, and it sounded nice coming from Ryan instead of Amy. It also sounded better than Amy shouting out ‘Robert’ whenever he was in trouble, which Ryan never did. Ryan gave him a quick, tender kiss, then led him to sit in the other side of the booth. Between the strange look Ryan gave him and the fact that Ryan had eaten before he had gotten there, he could tell that the man was troubled about something and quickly became concerned._

_“Is everything okay?” he asked._

_Ryan chewed his lip, then looked up worriedly. “I made a decision today, and I think it was the right choice, but it’s… not good for us. I quit the NSA.”_

_Bobby’s eyes widened as he took it in. “Wow, that’s huge. I know you said you weren’t really happy there, so this is good, right?”_

_“Yeah, that’s part of it,” Ryan replied with a half-smile. “But the other thing…” he paused and gave a heavy sigh, but steadied his gaze into Bobby’s eyes and completed, “Last week, a software company in San Jose offered me a job, and I’m thinking of accepting it.”_

_“S-San Jose,” Bobby stuttered, his jaw and stomach both starting to drop. “That’s… wow.”_

_Ryan tightened his lips nervously. “Yeah. It’s really something. It pays practically three times what I make at the NSA, but more importantly it’s real research and development, creating something, not spying or tracking people down. I just… I just don’t know what that means for us.”_

_Bobby looked down at the table, then slowly glanced back up to Ryan and took one of his hands in his. “I don’t know. We’ve only really been together for a couple of months, but… you know I love you and I want you to be happy.”_

_“I love you too,” Ryan replied. “I… I just remember what you said about Amy, and that it was something real even though nothing ever happened. Neither of you were ready before, but you both are now. If I’m out of the way, maybe it would give you that chance to make it work and you could be happy together.”_

_“No,” Bobby urged, trying to keep his voice down. “It’ll never happen between me and her. I just want you.”_

_Ryan shut his eyes and breathed deeply. “That just makes this harder, then.” He propped his elbow on the table and hid his face in his hands. “I don’t want to leave you, but I can’t stay here in DC. I don’t belong here.”_

_Bobby thought about it for a moment. “What if I came with you?”_

_Ryan gave a confused frown. “Bobby… that’s crazy. We’ve only been together for a couple of months. You have family, friends, the team, all of your work, it’s all here. You can’t just uproot like that for someone like… I’m not…”_

_“Don’t you dare say you’re not worth it,” Bobby sternly cut him off and squeezed his hand tightly. “You’ve done so much for me and not just as a boyfriend. You kept me from throwing away my career doing something stupid just to figure out what the DEA was really after from my team.”_

_“And now I’m asking you not to throw it away just for someone you just met,” Ryan pleaded. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I know this is the right thing for me. I just don’t know how – or if – we can make it work.”_

_Bobby paused and looked around at the bar, the thought suddenly occurring to him. “That’s why you wanted to meet here. We first got together here, and now we’re breaking up here. It’s symmetrical.”_

_Ryan hung his head. “I guess. I do love you, and I know I’ll never love anyone the way I love you. But I wanted to leave it up to you, if we just make the most of whatever time I have left here, or… if we just stop, pull away quickly like ripping off a band-aid.”_

_Bobby drew in a shaky breath, feeling winded by the sudden change. It took a minute for him to find his voice. “I don’t really know. I really didn’t picture this being what you were going to tell me."_

_"I know. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until today,” Ryan admitted._

_Bobby started feeling uncomfortable and awkward, not knowing what to say and in no condition to order anything to eat. His stomach was in knots and he was trying to keep himself from shuddering with nerves. He had to leave. “I… um… I should get back to the office. Can I think about it? I just need a little time to process all of this.”_

_Ryan nodded, but said nothing as Bobby collected himself and walked briskly out of the bar._

_Bobby slammed his car door shut and thudded his head against his steering wheel. After a moment he tried to recompose himself for work and began driving back. He had been thinking of transferring, but thought he had all the reasons to stay. Every aspect of his life flashed through his mind as he drove._

_He’d dealt with his feelings for Amy, and he’d made his choice. He thought he had a future with Ryan, but now Ryan was leaving. Amy still had feelings which made things awkward, but it was nothing they weren’t going to handle. He’d made his peace after discovering the secrets his teammates were keeping from him, but he also knew he couldn’t advance on the team as long as Tommy was around as the Senior Agent, and he didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. He had a good relationship with his sister, but she was fiercely independent and didn’t often need his help. The job he thought about was down in L.A., not even that close to San Jose; but it was at least on the same side of the country and in the same state. He didn’t think he’d ever meet someone like Ryan, and he didn’t want to; he wanted the real thing. But realistically he had only known him for a few weeks, and he never made any decisions while overly emotional like he was now. He couldn’t ask Ryan to stay just for him, which is the same reason why Ryan wouldn’t let him move away._

_He sauntered into work and into the elevator, completely unaware of anyone around him. He shuffled back to his desk, ignoring both Tommy and Lisa, and stared at his blank computer screen while his mind reeled. He remembered that he had the transfer form still in his desk drawer, and that he still hadn’t signed it because he wasn’t sure. He could go, but he had just as many reasons to stay. He knew that facing the option would help him decide, so he pulled out the folder and stared at the page. The empty signature line stared intensely at him as he decided his fate._

NCIS

Tim grinned happily as he pulled the last page from the typewriter. He looked over at Jay, who was laying on the warm carpet of the bedroom blinking sleep from his eyes while he waited for Tim to go to bed.

“I promise, this is the last late writing night,” Tim reminded his dog.

It was just past midnight into Saturday, and Tim had just churned out the last of the chapters he needed to finish the book. He didn’t get his previous pages or his computer back from the FBI until late Thursday evening after the FBI’s interrogations about La Grenouille were over, and he was relieved to find that no pages were missing or out of order. He had called Riley as he had promised and confirmed that he wouldn’t be able to stay at the cabin for long, but Riley still wanted him to come. Tim hadn’t asked because he didn’t want Riley to make any decisions until after he’d read the book. He got the idea to leave the book open-ended when thinking about how things were with Riley, and how Riley needed to figure out what he wanted. To emphasize it for Riley, he took two blank pieces of paper and put them just after the end, hoping Riley would see it as an opportunity to fill in his idea for how they should go forward. Tim felt good about their chances of continuing their relationship and he wanted Riley to know that he’d be there no matter what.

He skimmed through the pages again one last time looking for the stray punctuation and spelling errors. Like his last book, it wasn’t an overly thick novel like some mystery and crime books, but he was happy with the quantity and quality of his work. He just hoped his publisher and his audience would feel the same.

Tim stood up and stretched, which Jay learned was the nightly signal for “I’m finally done writing, let’s go for a walk before bed.” After Jay had been relieved outside, they both went through their nightly routines of Tim brushing his teeth and Jay patrolling the apartment for unattended food. As Tim lay back in bed, his eyes stayed glued open staring at the ceiling, wanting it to already be morning so he could see Riley again.

NCIS

Abby stirred in her sleeping bag, at first not minding the hard ground underneath her, but then gradually wishing she were back in her own bed. She saw light seeping through the drab, olive-green side of her tent indicating that it was possibly her last full day. It was hard enough getting to sleep last night knowing she was less than 48 hours away from being either killed or spared, and her wits were strained further as her internal timer fell below 36 hours. She had taken all the precautions she could, though Ari shooting the windows of her lab only a few years ago reminded her that it only took one bullet to end it all.

She reached across the small tent into her backpack and retrieved the satellite phone Director Shepard gave her, then checked her watch. At 7:30 AM, it was just early enough to justify a distraction. She powered on the phone, then dialed one of the rarely-used extensions for her lab at NCIS. The call then connected through the modem card on one of the spare computers she kept in the back of her lab. The computer had nothing else connected, not even a monitor for anyone to know it was useable, but it stayed quietly powered on. She heard a handshake tone from the modem card, pressed the number 1, and hung up. The computer then remotely connected to her laptop at her apartment and started a timer. In 30 minutes, a set of pre-programmed macros would start the mouse on her laptop moving and clicking around to make it appear as though she were checking her emails and browsing the internet for tattoo designs at home. She smiled as she hoped someone tracking her would take that to mean she was back home, or at worst appearing at NCIS, giving her a few extra hours to scout out a new spot without someone watching her.

She sifted through her change of clothes in her backpack and tightened her pigtails before plotting a new course on her map of Black Ridge Woods. She knew she had one more night to go before having to really hide, and she wanted to make sure there was no way she’d get lost. 

NCIS

The two hours between when Tim programmed Riley’s cabin into his GPS and when he pulled into the long driveway only seemed to last seconds. His head had been wrapped up in worry about what mood Riley would be in when he arrived, if he was dressed too casually, if Jay would handle a long drive well, and how long he should stay, though none of those questions were answered by 10 AM when he saw the large house perched on the hill. As he approached he noticed a silver Ford sedan parked outside of the garage where Riley’s truck was parked. Riley hadn’t told him anyone else was coming when they spoke on Thursday night, and his stomach lurched wondering who it could be.

He gripped the thick yellow envelope holding his typed manuscript and wondered if it was a mistake driving out just to deliver it, but he wanted Riley to read it before it was sent out for publishing and didn’t want to wait until he was done work for the weekend. Jay leapt out of the car and began sniffing at the new smells, pulling Tim along by the leash. Tim noticed the air had warmed up significantly since the last weekend, and he started seeing more buds appearing in the trees and plants near the house. They reached the front door and Tim knocked, but he didn’t see any movement inside. The kitchen appeared empty through the doors, though he saw a black purse and an empty bottle of champagne sitting on the kitchen counter.

As Tim looked around, he heard a woman’s laugh coming from the back of the house, so he followed the deck around to the back until he saw Riley sitting at the patio table with a woman he didn’t recognize. Riley was wearing a gray _Blink-182_ tank top and black running shorts, but the woman was seated with her back to Tim so he couldn’t see what she looked like in detail. They both also wore sunglasses as they sat in the sun, and each sipped from a champagne flute with what looked like orange juice inside.

Riley smiled when he saw Tim and Jay, then downed the last of his glass before standing up to give Tim a hug and a quick kiss. “Hey, Tim! You made it! And this must be Jay!” He let Jay sniff his hand before bending down and running his fingers through the dog’s fur. “He’s a good boy!”

Tim smiled, feeling a little more at ease. “Yeah, I was worried he wouldn’t like the long drive, but he did just fine.”

The woman called over, “He’s cute. So is the dog.”

At that angle, Tim had a better view of the woman. She had a shorter frame than Riley and had thick, wavy black hair tucked to one side that contrasted her pale skin. She wore a red halter top bikini containing her large bust, with short denim shorts and a boot cast on her right foot which she propped up on one of the other chairs. Her round face held an evaluating look as her piercing hazel eyes thoroughly scanned Tim over the rim of her black sunglasses.

“This is Sabrina,” Riley explained as he gestured to her. “Sabrina, this is Tim.”

Tim smiled nervously. “Hi. You’re Riley’s friend who designed his apartment?”

She smiled slyly. “Yeah. And you’re Riley’s boyfriend that said his ex’s name during sex and made me drive out here to listen to his existential crisis over wine and _Harry Potter_?”

Tim was dumbstruck and his jaw slackened in stunned silence as he tried to formulate an answer, but Riley intervened with a voice full of sarcasm directed at her.

“Don’t you have to go home?”

“And miss this? Hell no,” she continued with mischievous delight. She reached her hand up to Tim. “My ankle is busted and I’m way too relaxed in this chair to slap you. I’ll let you off light and let you bash your face against my palm. Sound good?”

Riley rolled his eyes and swatted her hand away. “Can you go five minutes without slapping someone?”

“Can’t help that I’m Italian,” she shrugged.

“You’re also Irish,” Riley retorted with a smirk, “so shut it and drink your mimosa.”

“‘Shutting it’ is not in my repertoire. But hey, cheers.” She smiled and sat back in her chair, raising her glass to her lips without taking her eyes off Tim.

Riley turned to Tim and whispered with a smile, “She only pretends to be mad to cover up how much she loves cheap wine and _Harry Potter_. All bark, no bite. Usually. Well… sometimes.”

Tim chortled and sat next to Riley and across from Sabrina at the table, taking a quick glance at the view of the valley on the sunny day. He quickly checked on Jay, who was circling the table sniffing everything he could, then Tim reached over to Riley and handed him the thick yellow envelope. “Here it is, _Rock Hollow_. It’s the only copy, so just be careful.”

Riley held the envelope and looked at Tim endearingly. “You know you didn’t have to do this.”

“I know,” Tim replied, slipping his hand over Riley’s. “But you know I wanted to anyway.”

Riley’s cheeks flushed and he set the envelope down away from his drink. “I’ll take good care of it, don’t worry.”

Sabrina’s face lit up and she reached for the envelope. “Oh, a new book! Let me see!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Riley swiped it up and held it out of her reach. “Need I quote the Stanford Bookworm Accords of 1994?”

“Ugh!” She groaned disgustedly. “Don’t say that year, it seems like so long ago and makes me feel old.” She took another urgent drink of her mimosa.

Tim raised a curious eyebrow as he watched, then asked, “Bookworm Accords?”

Riley grinned at Sabrina then looked back at Tim, snickering while trying to explain, “Heh, yeah. We kept stealing each other’s books when we were in the same dorm in college. She was taking Pre-Law needed to draw up a trade agreement for a class, so we came up with ideas. One of them was that we agreed to not steal books that were gifts until the person had read it all the way through.”

“Those were the good ol’ days,” Sabrina sighed happily. “I was upset after a breakup, he was the nearest gay guy with books, chocolate, and a pot connection. It was best friendship at first sight.”

Tim’s eyes widened in intrigued shock as he looked from Sabrina to Riley. “You smoked weed in college? You were quite the rebel, weren’t you?”

“It was a California college in the 90’s. _Everyone_ smoked weed,” Riley shrugged bashfully, then stood up. “Come on, let’s get this inside before she unhinges her jaw and tries to swallow the book whole.”

Tim smiled and took his hand to walk with him, but Sabrina protested.

“Wait, don’t leave! I haven’t gotten to interrogate him yet! How do we know if we like him?”

Riley turned back to her while walking backwards towards the door to the living room. “He has a job and writes books for fun. And a bonus, he’s six-foot-two and his shoe size is 12. Think about that for your drive home,” he added with a grin.

Her mouth dropped into a scandalous smile which she partially hid with her hand. “Oh my…”

At first Tim didn’t understand what Riley meant, but then his eyes shot wide open and his face flushed violently purple when he realized Riley was alluding to Tim’s endowment. Riley pulled him and Jay into the house as Sabrina stretched out on the patio chairs, continuing to sun herself.

With two of the six large living room windows open, cool mountain air flowed through the house giving Tim an invigorating chill. Jay eagerly pulled on his leash to sniff around the house, and with the doors closed Tim felt it was safe enough to let him roam. Riley set the envelope down on the desk, then turned around and leaned back against the edge of the desk with his arms folded. Tim walked over and leaned against the arm of the sofa facing him.

“She’s something,” Riley admitted with a smile. “I think she likes you though.”

Tim chuckled nervously. “I hope so. I didn’t know she’d be here.”

“Yeah, it was kinda a last-minute thing. I thought I wanted to be alone, but then when I got here I felt too alone, so I called her,” Riley explained. “We bust on each other a lot, but she’s a great listener. She knows how to be there and just let me calm down, yet somehow kick my ass into gear all at the same time.”

“Abby’s like that with me, too,” Tim replied. He noticed that Riley seemed to have a bit more spark than the last time he saw him, but he wasn’t sure what to do next. He could sense tension take over the relaxed air between them. “I guess I just thought you and I would get to talk, or that you’d read a little bit while I was here. I thought we’d be alone.”

Riley shrugged and took the package in his hand. “To be honest, I… I didn’t know what to expect with the book. When you said you wanted to make things work but then that you couldn’t stay long, I didn’t know if that meant you ended the story where we… well, ended up the other day, or if it would be an extended Dear John letter. Do you know I was _never_ this bad at overthinking until I met you?” he laughed uncomfortably.

Tim chuckled but kept his arms folded. “Well the spoiler I’ll give you is that it’s not a Dear John letter, I promise. I-I just,” he paused and tried to collect his thoughts. “It’s like when talking about a computer program or a crime scene, you need all the details to really understand what’s happening. I guess I just wanted that same attention to all the details and for people to really see everything between us. And the best way I can do that is through writing and setting the scene. Making sure you got it today and putting an end to your overthinking is worth the long drive here and back.”

“You know,” Riley began with a snicker, “not many people can get away with comparing relationships to crime scene details, but the rest of it does make it sound very sweet.”

Tim grinned sheepishly and rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. But I was kinda surprised you invited me out here at all. I know how much this place means to you and I didn’t think you’d want me back here so soon.”

Riley looked away and set the package back on the desk. “I guess I thought if we got to talk, even for just a few minutes, it would make things right – especially if I wasn’t going to see you again.”

Tim’s smile fell and his arms tightened in their fold. “So… you’re still not sure about us? Being back together?”

“I know what I want,” Riley replied and looked back at Tim with his eyes glistening. “I just don’t want to be the one that keeps you from being happy."

Tim’s gut pushed him towards the other man, all but screaming for him to be assertive. He smiled cautiously and straightened up, then slowly approached Riley and placed his hand on Riley’s cheek. “It’s because of you that I know _how_ to be happy. I’m not letting you go.”

He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Riley’s lips, which Riley drank in and pulled Tim closer by his shirt. The desk creaked against the pressure as they rocked back and forth, tongues dancing and hands grabbing to bind their bodies together. As the tension released from the two of them, they both breathed sighs of relief. Riley snaked his arms around Tim’s waist and rested his head against his chest. Tim breathed contently and gently wrapped his arms around Riley, keeping him close. He felt no hesitation from Riley and felt good about his choice to drive two hours each way.

Tim let himself relax into the hug and ran his fingers up into Riley’s hair. He put his lips against Riley’s ear and whispered, “When you’re reading the book, there’s something I want you to know: Everything in the story between your character and mine is true about you and me. Everything that happened and everything that could, it’s all true. I left an extra couple of pages at the end, you’ll understand why.”

“Okay,” Riley softly but hesitantly replied, and nuzzled up to the crook of Tim’s neck.

The door to the deck opened and Sabrina limped in with the help of her crutches. She rolled her eyes at the sight of the two embracing. “Ugh, gross.”

Tim felt the man’s grin against his chest when Riley gave a muffled retort, “Be jealous, cripple.”

Sabrina gave a smart smile back and an approving look at Tim, then passed them with a click of her crutches. “That’ll cost you another bottle of red on top of the one I was planning on stealing anyway.”

Tim felt confident about their future based on what Riley was saying, and while his gut told him to stay, he knew he needed to get back in case the team got a case. He kissed Riley on his forehead and whispered, “I should probably go too.”

“So soon?” Riley asked, still hesitant but wanting. “It’s a long drive.”

“Yeah, but it was worth getting to see you and hold you again,” Tim replied with another nuzzle of their heads together. “Besides, you know how it is in our line of work.”

Riley squeezed his arms around Tim, then tilted his head up. His lips tentatively met Tim’s, searching and feeling along the familiar territory. He slipped his fingertips under the waistband of Tim’s jeans. “Are you sure you don’t have a few minutes? I’ve _really_ missed you.”

Tim hummed with lust, wanting nothing more than to stay, take Riley upstairs, and reunite them fully. His gut told him to stay, but his mind kept pulling his thoughts back to his responsibilities. “I really wish I could, but I have to go. I promise, though, once you’re back home, I’m all yours.”

Riley slowly released Tim and stepped back, then kept their hands together for a moment as he looked up at him. “Let me know that you get back safe. I’ll probably keep my phone off for tonight and unplug a little bit while I read, but I’ll call you once I’ve finished the book.”

Tim smiled, then called out, “Jay! Let’s go.”

Jay’s leash jingled as he trotted back from the kitchen over to Tim, where Riley bent down to give him a thorough rub behind the ears.

“He really is cute,” Riley grinned playfully. “Don’t go picking up too many guys with him before I’m back.”

“I think I can manage that,” Tim quipped with another smile. “I love you.”

Riley smiled and kissed him softly again. “I love you too.”

Tim was glad to have said it again and heard it again, so with renewed confidence he took Jay by the leash and walked back to his car, hoping and praying the end of their story would not resemble the last scene he wrote in the book.

NCIS

Abby didn’t want the sun to come up that morning. She didn’t want to be wide awake for the entire night listening for the sound of footsteps or snapping branches, but she was. This was the day where she would have to run, and not even know if she were in danger until sunset. She wanted to call Director Shepard and stay locked in her lab at NCIS for a whole month if it meant she wouldn’t have to be alone in the Black Ridge Woods.

She struggled to get herself packed, her hands shaking with fear as she pried the tent posts from the ground. Every sound seemed to be amplified a hundred times louder than she used to hear them. As she hiked across the slopes of the park, Abby wondered if Shepard would give her a raise for going through with this operation under the radar. The train of thought helped distract her from the violent quivering of her insides as she counted down the hours until she would hear her satellite phone ring.

NCIS

Saturday came and went with no call for a Major Crimes case, and nothing waited for the team as they sauntered in on that Sunday morning. The whole team had been glad that there was no call waiting for them as they were without both Abby and Gibbs. They could still process evidence without Abby, but she definitely had the team beat for efficiency. Gibbs’ absence was almost expected after he repeatedly disappeared throughout the previous day with no explanation.

Sunday found the McGee wandering in wearing jeans and a zip-up Navy hoodie, his usual “casual workday” attire. He felt slightly frustrated in that he would’ve been able to sleep with Riley before coming back on Saturday, yet he knew it was better to be safe than sorry. As he was pouring his coffee, he imagined Riley stretched out on one of the sofas in the cabin’s living room reading the final version of _Rock Hollow_ , wearing the glasses Tim loved seeing him wear. He was anxious to hear what Riley thought of the book so far, but Riley still hadn’t reached out.

The hours slowly ticked by and the sun made its way down to the horizon. Even Tony got bored of his own machinations at McGee’s expense as the three agents sat waiting and completing whatever busywork they could find. It seemed to take an hour for the clock to tick from 4:59 PM to 5:00 PM, but when it did, McGee, Tony, and Ziva each sped from the building to do all the things they each had planned while they waited for their shift to end.

Director Shepard watched the trio leave from her usual spot upstairs near MTAC. Her eyes were fierce and focused if only to hide the conflict of knowing one of that team’s members was now on the run for her life, and they had no idea. She still didn’t know who the target would be, but she would soon find out.

She turned back to the door to MTAC and let the blue light scan her eye, which then unlocked the door with a hiss. MTAC was slightly darker than usual as the main screen was completely black. Two Cyber Crimes agents manned a long communications console to the left of the screen and the theater-like seats. Propped on the console was a new-looking laptop with several cables running to it, and a silver USB drive connected to one of the ports.

“Seal the room,” Shepard commanded to one of the agents. “Let’s get started.”

As clamps clicked into place around the exit door, the agent to the left of the laptop pressed its power button. The main screen at the front of the room flashed with OMNI’s large, white computer power symbol. The boot sequence ran through its usual steps but did not require an identification number typical to OMNI laptops. Once it completed, it automatically brought up a conference program with several participants present, each represented by icons on the left sided of the screen. The right side held an empty gray section with the text “Target Profile” above it. The agents on either side of the laptop furiously tapped at their keyboards, both attempting to trace the connections but meeting with little success.

Tim still hadn’t heard from Riley while he was on his way home. Jay waited dutifully for him inside the apartment, but Tim rushed past him into the kitchen to check his answering machine in case Riley left a message there. His heart rose into his throat when he saw one message flashing on the machine, and he laughed giddily when he saw it. Jay tilted his head to the side at his master’s odd behavior and squeaked.

“Just a second, Jay. I have to hear this, then we’ll go outside.”

He took a deep breath and pressed the ‘Play’ button.

_“YOU HAVE ONE NEW MESSAGE. FIRST MESSAGE: SATURDAY, 4:25 PM”_

_“Hey, Tim,”_ Riley’s soft voice made Tim’s heart jump with anticipation. _“I know you’re probably working right now so I figured it’d be best to leave the message here. I finished reading the book. It’s… amazing.”_

Tim exhaled with relief and put his hand on his chest, hoping to stabilize his pulse.

In MTAC, Director Shepard watched as the icons on the left of the screen were replaced with a large topographical map of the globe. An overhead satellite image was then superimposed over the map, followed by several red dots being placed around the globe. The red dots were labeled “Target.” She prayed Abby had a plan to escape in case it was her.

Abby squinted to see through the trees, wondering if she had heard someone following her. She knew she had a secret weapon, but she was no match for an assassin if one were after her. There was still no call ringing on her satellite phone.

Riley’s message on Tim’s machine continued, _“I… I’m really proud that you wrote Matthews as a man, as me, and that you were still willing to show McGregor falling for him. I also love that you gave him angel wings as the tattoo instead of the dragon. That conflict of Heaven and Hell embodied by Matthews and Amy is something I think that all of your readers will be able to relate to, not just you and me. It’s deeper than anything else I’ve ever seen you write.”_

The box on the right of the MTAC screen filled as a profile began loading. It detailed the target and included a headshot. A breath caught in Shepard’s chest as she read over the profile and watched the map, which zoomed into the eastern United States. A phone number highlighted on the profile, and a tracking program began running the number on the screen.

Abby checked her watch and decided it was time to quicken her pace. She kept moving across trails, never staying in the open for too long, and keeping an eye out for any landmarks she’d recognize from her map.

_“You wrote that McGregor was ready to give up everything for Matthews, and you said that everything that’s true for them is true for us. I never knew that you were thinking of leaving the team because of what happened with Gibbs. Leaving NCIS, running away from my problems and my feelings, is still the greatest regret of my life. It was my home, home in a way no other place has been able to be. It’s too late for me to go back, but it’s not too late for you to stay.”_

Shepard watched as the map zoomed onto the selected target and updated its live location. Then it zoomed out and two blue dots appeared a few miles on either side of the Target, each labeled “Asset.” The program provided the live location of each and updated as they each moved, the program alerting the Assets to the Target’s location. Shepard clutched her phone in her hand and quickly typed a message.

Abby couldn’t tell if a deer was trailing along with her or if there were just a lot of small animals around her. Branches were rustling and snapping far back behind her, so she slowly ducked behind a tree. The rustling and snapping continued.

_“You left McGregor’s fate unresolved, and I guess that’s because you don’t know what it’ll mean for your career as a writer or as a federal agent if you publish this. I can’t fill in those blank pages because I don’t know what’ll happen either, Tim. But just the fact that you’re willing to publish this for me… I can’t tell you how amazing that makes me feel.”_

“Tell me you have something,” Shepard barked urgently at one of the agents.

“I’m trying, ma’am,” the agent replied meekly. “It’s really tough encryption.”

One of the Assets drew closer to the Target. Shepard’s heart jumped as the map on the large screen dropped to one corner and a video feed started buffering in its place.

Abby’s gut told her to start running, not just hiking. She knew the steps she heard weren’t wildlife. She drew a red handkerchief from her pocket and let it trail down from her hand for a moment, then let it go as she broke into a run.

_“I always believed that taking myself out of the equation would always be better off for the people around me, and it made running away easier. I don’t think I believe that anymore because of you. You’re my reason to stay.”_

Abby saw the figure dressed in dark camouflage as she crouched in some thick foliage. She saw the gun and the long barrel of a suppressor extending from it as the assassin circled around, his gaze piercing the darkness. Abby’s phone rang, and man lifted his gun in her direction.

The video loaded on the MTAC screen from a camera on the dashboard of an SUV. A fleeing motorcyclist ahead raced onto a grated metal bridge and caught a small bump, sending sparks towards the SUV’s windshield as it landed and continued. Another blue Asset dot appeared on the small map as a pair of headlights turned into the camera’s sight on the other side of the bridge, blocking the motorcycle’s path. Shepard watched in horror as the SUV veered and its camera’s feed cut to static, but the audio betrayed the unmistakable crunching and smashing of metal.

_“I love you, Tim, and I’m done running away. Whatever you decide to do with the book, publishing it with us in it or rewriting it to work with your publisher, I’ll be there. I’ll be back tomorrow night and I’d really like to spend it with you. I’m gonna ride around the mountain for a while and catch the sunset. I’ll call you in the morning and we can talk then. Goodnight, Tim… I love you.”_

Tim breathed easier after hearing Riley’s message. Riley loved him and they would move forward together. With a smile he leashed up Jay for his evening walk. He rubbed Jay behind his ears and told him, “That’s right, buddy. Everything will be just fine,” as they headed out the door.

Shepard tried to hide the quakes of rage and horror rippling through her body as the live camera feed reconnected to the scene on the metal bridge.

Abby trembled as she watched blood run down the assassin’s camouflaged face from a bullet hole in his forehead. She jumped as the bushes rustled and Gibbs emerged, also camouflaged and bearing his sniper rifle. She looked from him to her would-be killer, then to her phone’s lit screen with the message from Director Shepard, _“You’re safe, come back in.”_

The front wheel of Riley’s smashed motorcycle slowly spun to a halt over the dried riverbed as the SUVs drove away from the bridge overhead.


	23. Chapter 22

NCIS

Ducky yawned as he walked down the stairs to the morgue. He hadn’t forced himself to be too awake since he knew there was no backlog of paperwork from their empty on-call weekend, and he enjoyed having an easy and fresh start to his Monday. As the doors slid open to the unlit morgue, he immediately noticed a body wrapped in a translucent tarp laying on one of the examination tables. As his eyes adjusted, he saw Gibbs sitting silently in the opposite corner with his pistol resting in his hand and camouflage paint on his face, his eyes watching over the body with a grave stare now illuminated by the stairway lights. Ducky’s mouth hung in worried surprise as he flipped the lights and began taking off his coat and hat.

“Jethro, what happened?” Ducky asked in a low but urgent tone.

Gibbs squinted as he tried to adjust to the light, then stood up stiffly and holstered his gun. “An OMNI assassin just tried to kill Abby.”

Ducky’s heart dropped. “Is she alright? Where is she?”

“She’s fine,” Gibbs grunted. “She’s already in her lab running blood and DNA on this guy. We need to know who he is, where he’s been, everything, and completely under the radar.”

Ducky frowned. “Under… I don’t understand. Isn’t there an investigation?”

Gibbs huffed and turned to the sink, then began splashing water on his face and scrubbing off the paint.

Ducky protested, “Jethro, there’s a thin line between discreet and illegal. I’ll help Abby, of course, but I need to know which side of that line I’m about to be on.” 

Gibbs slapped the knob to shut off the water and rose to glare intensely at him. “Shepard knew Abby was being hunted and didn’t tell me. She told her that she was safe while the assassin’s gun was pointed at her. You tell me which side of the line that is, and I’ll tell you which side of the ground Shepard will be tonight.”

NCIS

McGee tapped distractedly at his keyboard, absentmindedly filling out requisition forms for computer equipment that he didn’t really need but could get away with getting for the team. He decided to tell Supply that his and Abby’s computers both needed RAM upgrades to handle the workload of being synced together. While it wasn’t entirely untrue, McGee mainly wanted to do the upgrade to not think about why Riley hadn’t called or answered his phone. McGee called late that Sunday to leave a message, and once again earlier that morning. The second call went directly to voicemail instead of ringing, which McGee took to mean that Riley’s phone was off for some kind of work. He convinced himself not to be worried yet, but he was concerned that Riley had changed his mind.

Gibbs was already there when McGee arrived that morning, but he had been completely silent. McGee noticed that he looked exhausted and that there was something slightly off about the color of his face, but more importantly that he looked like he was waiting for something. Ziva and Tony appeared with their usual Monday attempts to seem alert, and merely nodded as they each entered the bullpen.

McGee stood up to take his form down to Supply but was distracted by two men in black suits approaching the bullpen. The taller of the two men looked familiar, though McGee couldn’t put a name to the face. He was bald with a rounded jaw and full moustache, and carried a folder marked with an agency stamp that McGee couldn’t quite make out from the distance. The other agent was thin and lanky with brown hair and pale blue eyes. The taller man approached Gibbs’ desk and pulled out his badge.

“Special Agent Gibbs?” he asked in a deep, gravel-like voice.

Gibbs stood and stared at the other man, also vaguely recognizing him. “Yeah.”

“Special Agent King and my partner, Special Agent Walker, FBI,” he continued with a slight Brooklyn accent. “We need to speak with Special Agent Timothy McGee.”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow and briefly glanced over to McGee before looking back at Agent King. McGee knew instantly to return to his side. Seeing the FBI stamp on the folder, McGee recognized the man as Riley’s boss at the FBI, who they encountered while tracking an OMNI agent.

“About?” Gibbs asked.

King tried to match Gibbs’ stare but faltered momentarily. “It’s a sensitive case, and we would rather be sure the information is contained.” He turned to McGee. “Agent McGee, please accompany us back to FBI headquarters. We just have a few questions for you.”

McGee’s mind tripped over itself trying to figure out what was happening, but Gibbs interrupted.

“If you have questions to ask, you can ask them here,” he suggested sternly.

“This will be on record,” King replied. “May we use your Interrogation Room?”

Gibbs warily gestured for them towards the hallway to Interrogation, then looked up towards MTAC. Director Shepard observed from the railing upstairs with a concerned look on her face. Gibbs studied her face, then watched her quickly go down the stairs. Though instead of coming towards them to intervene, she turned the other way towards the back stairs. Gibbs narrowed his eyes, and his face betrayed a small snarl before he turned to join the others.

Agent Walker relieved the recording technician, and while Ziva, Tony, and Gibbs also filed into Observation, McGee and King slowly took their places on the other side of the glass in Interrogation. McGee felt uncomfortable being on the other side of the table again so soon after Fornell’s interrogation last week, but he was more concerned about why the FBI wanted to question him and why Riley wasn’t there with them.

King laid down the folder and studied McGee for a moment before asking, “Do you know Special Agent Riley Mathis?”

McGee’s heart twisted with his worst fears. “Um… yes. I know him.”

“How well?”

“I… Fairly well, I guess. I’ve only known him for a few months, though.” McGee’s lower lip quivered with nerves.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Saturday afternoon.”

King stared calculatingly at him. “Are you familiar with his work at the FBI?”

McGee thought back to their conversations. “Vaguely. I know he was hunting a cyber terrorist group known as OMNI for a while, but I thought he moved onto other assignments.”

“And he told you of the progress he had made?”

“Not exactly, though we did collaborate on a raid on an OMNI warehouse in which you were also involved.” McGee wasn’t sure if he should say anything about Riley telling him about the OMNI agents in FBI custody ending up dead, but he kept the fact ready if necessary.

King opened a folder and pulled out a sheet with several numbers on it. “Mathis called you Sunday evening. What did you talk about?”

McGee’s heart was racing down to the floor. “We didn’t talk, I was here at the time. He left a message on my machine at home. What is all of this about?”

“What did he say?” King continued coldly, his rough voice only making McGee more uneasy.

McGee froze. He didn’t really know who this man was other than that he worked at the FBI and was Riley’s boss. McGee couldn’t face the blackness of his worst fear to consider what else could be happing with Riley. Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony each looked with anticipation through the glass.

“Agent McGee?” King repeated the question, “What did Agent Mathis tell you in his message?”

“It was a personal message, unrelated to either of our jobs. He was proofreading a book I’m publishing, and he was calling to tell me what he thought. What is this about?” McGee demanded.

King studied him for a moment, then shuffled around a few papers in his folder. “Special Agent Mathis was found dead late Sunday evening.”

McGee’s heart sank below the pit of his stomach. His eyes shot open, his mouth hung open and trembled, and his stomach felt like it would twist him into illness. His lungs refused to breath. He felt the lump build in his throat and the burn begin in his eyes, but he couldn’t even begin to know how to fight it. The color drained from his face and his chest lurched forward. Behind the glass, Ziva held her hand over her mouth, Tony stood entirely stunned, and Gibbs’ fists were clenched so tight they were white.

“D-d-dead?” McGee stammered. “No. No.”

“I’m afraid so,” King replied without a hint of expression, still observing McGee’s reaction. He looked at the camera, snapped his fingers, and gestured a cutting motion with his hand.

Behind the glass, Walker cut the camera and audio feed from recording.

King looked to see that the camera’s red light had turned off, then turned back to McGee with a lowered voice. “I was Agent Mathis’ supervisor in the FBI, and I have an idea of his… preferences. If you had a personal relationship with him, the details would not go on record, but we do need to know if he left any sign or hint that he was under duress in your message. That call was the last he placed before he died.”

He snapped his fingers, and Walker began recording audio and video again.

A tear spilled over McGee’s cheek as his whole body trembled. He tried to coherently speak, but his lungs rebelled. “I… We… W-we had a fight and hadn’t spoken for a few days, but… I wrote something for him. H-he called me to tell me that h-he… that he loves me…” he crossed his arms in front of him and held himself tightly as if his chest would collapse outward if he didn’t, “… and that we were going to make things work again.”

Ziva tried to steel herself emotionally while seeing McGee in pain. Tony’s face was scrunched into a frown as he also tried to contain himself. Gibbs continued to stare coldly through the glass, not even looking at McGee or the FBI agent.

King nodded. “Is that all?”

McGee took a couple of deep breaths, swiped away the fallen tear and tried to quickly dry his eyes with his sleeve, then tried to keep himself steady by gripping the seat of the chair. His nose was starting to fill but he sniffed through it. “He- um- he had asked me to call him back and leave a message, and that we’d spend tonight together. I’ve called him but I haven’t heard back.”

“And was anything unusual about the message? The way he spoke, a phrase he rarely uses?”

McGee thought back to the message, every word ringing loudly in his ears. He slowly shook his head negatively.

King continued, “Did Mathis ever mention to you that he might be in any danger because of his work?”

McGee tried to regain his composure before answering on record. “In a way, yes. A couple of weeks ago when I saw him, he was keeping a personal sidearm close because his work was getting more dangerous. But he didn’t tell me that anyone threatened him specifically. How… how did it happen?” McGee regretted asking the question but needed to know. His grip on the seat of the chair tightened further as he braced himself.

“It appears to have been a car accident, possibly a hit-and-run,” King replied. He narrowed his eyes as he glanced down at the papers in front of them. “Ranger patrols spotted damage to a bridge in the Virginia Mountains, and they found his body and motorcycle on the ground below during their inspection. Because of the threatening nature of his work we are investigating it as a possible murder. Do you know why he would’ve been that far out from DC?”

McGee knew he couldn’t lie, but Riley did go to lengths to keep the cabin off-record. He wasn’t quite sure what to do, so he admitted what he knew he could. “He likes to ride up the mountain trails. I had gone with him once. He likes watching the sunset from up there.” He closed his eyes to try to hold back more tears when he realized he was speaking like Riley was still alive. He also realized he knew the exact bridge where the accident took place because of the ride he took with Riley, and he pictured everything happening there. Another punch landed in his gut. “When… When can I see him?”

King closed the folder and stood up. “His body is still evidence, but once the case is resolved it will be released. Per his personnel profile’s request, he wanted to be cremated. His ashes will be given to the next of kin, however I will be sure to contact you if we are unable to locate any other legal family to claim the body.”

He nodded again. “Thank you.” It slowly dawned on him that Riley had no other family, and that he would probably end up holding Riley’s ashes. He played back the events in his mind while King stood up to leave. Riley had gone to the mountains to get away from work and him. Riley was in the mountains because of McGee, and he was on the motorcycle without him because McGee left to go back to work. Riley died and died alone because of him. The guilt wound its way up around his heart like a vine and gripped harder than anything McGee ever felt before.

He stood up and walked out of the room as Ziva burst out of Observation. She tried to reach for him, but he didn’t even notice her as he walked down the hall back to the main floor. Tony appeared behind her, stunned and concerned. Looking back into the room, Gibbs was still staring angrily at the glass.

“Boss, what do we do?” Tony asked helplessly.

“Make sure he gets home,” he ordered, then turned towards them and stormed out of the room.

As the three of them reached the bullpen, McGee was already on his way out with his bag and his coat. He didn’t look at them or even acknowledge them, and Gibbs made no attempt to stop him. Tony and Ziva followed Gibbs’ lead in not saying anything but quickly grabbed their gear bags and made to follow McGee.

Before leaving, Tony looked up at Gibbs. “What about you?”

“ _Rule Three: ‘Don’t believe what you’re told. Double check.’_ ” Gibbs checked his gun to make sure there was a round in the chamber, then stormed to the back stairs.

Ziva leaned towards Tony and whispered, “I thought _Rule Three_ was ‘ _Never be unreachable_?’”

Tony’s eyes were wide from seeing Gibbs cock his gun, but he quietly whispered back, “His rules, his numbers, and I don’t want to be in his way right now. Let’s go.”

NCIS

Abby’s constricted throat let out a strangled sob, which was muffled by her gloved hand over her mouth. Tears flooded down her face and blurred her vision as she looked at the FBI’s internal communications on her screen. She had already been emotionally fragile knowing someone from OMNI had just tried to kill her, and she monitored the cameras in the bullpen so she wouldn’t have to leave her sealed lab. When the FBI team had arrived, she decided to dig into why they were there, and her first look into the communications blindsided her with a message about Riley’s death. She was wearing spare clothes she kept at the lab and had already made up her face, but the mascara was now running down her face with her tears.

Her insides churned and spasmed as she slowly dropped to her knees in terror, still squeaking out agonized cries. She curled into a ball as her brain processed what she had read. She knew it was too well-timed for Riley to have been randomly killed in a motorcycle accident, and what that could possibly mean about the previous night’s events. She had flashes of sniper bullets whizzing through her lab windows just like they had when the sniper, Ari Haswari, was targeting the team.

There was a knock at her door which snapped her back to the lab. She sobbed as her fears made her imagine the worst possibilities of who was behind the door. She kicked at the floor and grappled up to her keyboard to check the camera outside the lab.

Director Shepard’s voice was hushed as it passed through the thick lab door. “Abby, it’s me.”

Abby’s head whipped around to the door even though she also heard and saw Shepard clearly through the screen. Her feet wouldn’t move as she panted through her panic, staring through the walls at Shepard. Her brain cycled between fear and anger towards Shepard, but as she looked at the satellite phone laying on her workstation, she decided to follow her own investigative instincts.

“Abby?” Shepard repeated. “Open the door, we need to talk.”

Abby silently shook her head and wiped her tears, then started tapping at her keyboard.

Shepard waited patiently while looking from the door to the camera, knowing it was right on her. The longer she waited, the more her gut told her that Abby already knew about her friend and was mourning. She’d seen Agent Mathis’ profile on the screen in MTAC and knew they worked together along with Gibbs. She figured Gibbs would be alright, but Abby was very different when it came to friends dying. She continued waiting, though was surprised as rushed footsteps thundered down the stairs.

She had barely turned around when a hand grabbed her wrist and slammed her against the wall. She yelped in surprise and brief pain, then she looked up and was shocked by the sight of Gibbs’ ice-cold stare behind the sights of the gun pressed to her chest.

“Jethro!” she hissed. “What the he-”

“You know I could kill you just for what you did to Abby,” Gibbs growled menacingly. “Your body would look nice next to the one I put in the morgue. It almost was _her_ , even though you told her she was safe from OMNI.”

His thumb flicked the safety off and pressed harder against her. Shepard had never seen Gibbs looking as wild and dangerous as he did then. It wasn’t hard to guess that despite her orders, Abby had spilled her secret mission to Gibbs and asked for protection. Shepard had almost counted on it, but Gibbs’ anger was much greater than she expected.

“She is!” Shepard wheezed. “Now put the gun down before I scream for security!”

“You’ll be dead long before they get here unless you tell me everything, now.”

The lab door hissed as it opened inward, revealing Abby standing with anger and tears in her eyes.

“Gibbs, in here,” she suggested in a voice broken from crying.

Gibbs quickly eyed Shepard for any weapons, then shoved her through the door. Abby quickly closed it behind her, then walked back to her workstation with her arms tightly folded. Shepard stood a few feet from Gibbs, though his gun was still trained squarely on her. Shepard took the opportunity to ask a question of her own.

“Have you lost your fucking mind, Gibbs? Didn’t you listen to the FBI? Abby wasn’t the target. OMNI chose someone else,” she repeated.

“Did they?” Gibbs snarled. “Then why was an assassin about to kill her before I shot him? Why would you tell her she was safe if she was about to be killed?”

“I don’t know why someone was after her, only that we’ll never know if you decide to SHOOT ME, JETHRO!” Shepard countered, raising her voice and glaring threateningly at Gibbs despite not being armed.

Abby’s breath hitched as she worked up the courage to ask, “Was it Riley?”

Shepard glanced at her with surprise, then nodded. “Yes, Special Agent Riley Mathis.”

Gibbs emitted a guttural, painful cry unlike anything Shepard had ever heard from him, like he had just been stabbed. He clenched his eyes shut and staggered backward. His gun wavered and lowered slightly, and he seemed to look back through her rather than at her. Abby’s fists clenched as more tears gushed from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Shepard continued while looking at Abby, “I saw from his profile that you used to work together. That’s why I came to tell you. I wanted you to know the truth.”

“W-w-was it because they couldn’t find me?” Abby stammered.

Shepard shook her head. “No, they chose him at random. That’s why I texted you that you were safe. You’re saying someone still came after you?”

Abby squeaked as she connected the last of the pieces and put her face in her hands. “Which means someone in OMNI still wanted me dead. That means they know who and what I am.”

Gibbs’ grip tightened around his gun as he raised it back up to the Director, the wildfire renewed in his eyes. “And you let them kill him.”

Shepard could understand Gibbs being angry over a fallen former agent, but he was being more emotional than ever. “Put the gun down, Gibbs. I had no idea who they would pick, but I knew Abby would come to you for help. That’s why I picked her. There’s no way I could’ve known who else OMNI had on their list before they chose. You’re not going to murder me over the death of a former NCIS agent in the line of duty.”

“He was never just an agent,” Gibbs spat, “Not to me.”

“Then point your gun at the FBI, Gibbs, because they’re the ones who let OMNI kill him,” Shepard retorted, focusing more on disarming Gibbs than understanding what he meant. “Each agency had to put someone in the line of fire.”

Gibbs studied her for a moment to determine if she was telling the truth, then decided to lower but not put away his gun. “How did OMNI get to you? What are they offering that’s worth sacrificing either of them?”

Shepard breathed easier without the gun pointed at her, but she knew Gibbs could still kill her in a flash. She regretted not bringing her own gun, thinking her visit to Abby’s lab would be going quite differently than it was. “After Abby told me she was an Original, I started digging around into OMNI. A few days later, I found a cell phone sitting on my desk – _in my house_. When they called, they told me every move I had made the entire day. Then they told me that they have a virus that can track anyone, anywhere. It’s worth more than a few lives, Jethro. It could destabilize governments and start wars that will kill hundreds of thousands. It’s our job to get it off the market and use it to find them.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And you believed them enough to let this happen?”

“She’s telling the truth,” Abby mumbled and looked up at them. “I checked her cell records, and over the last month, her phone has started transmitting more data daily than usual. Mine has too, and so did Riley’s up until last night. It’s consistent with GPS pings, like when we track a suspect.”

“So you’re being tracked,” Gibbs replied. “What about the rest of us?”

Abby shook her head. “McGee’s phone was, but it stopped sometime last week. I think when Riley wiped it, the tracking program went with it. It started up again this weekend but dropped as of last night when the demonstration was over. Everyone else’s has been normal.”

Gibbs turned back to Shepard. “So what happens now? How do we call OMNI off of Abby?”

Shepard contemplated for a moment, then replied, “I’ll contact them to find out why they attempted to kill her. I’ll warn them that if anything happens to her, I’ll use my pull to throw every agency I can into a full attack on OMNI. They’ll know I can do it.”

Gibbs looked over and pointed to Abby to get her attention while finally holstering his weapon. “You don’t go anywhere alone. Until this is over, one of us will be with you at all times when you’re out of the lab. Only our team gets in, no one else. You won’t go home, and we’ll randomly rotate where you stay each night. Understood?”

Abby breathed bravely and confidently, though not without a sign of fear, then stood up straight and gave Gibbs a salute. “Yes, sir.”

“And you,” he turned to Shepard with a threatening glint in his eye, “We’re not done. Not even close.”

NCIS

The drive back tortured Tim as the memory of the sound of Riley’s motorcycle engine grew deafeningly loud in his already pounding head. He struggled to open his apartment door because his hands were shaking so much. He couldn’t hear Jay bark for being ignored when he stumbled inside and into the kitchen, and he couldn’t hear that his front door didn’t close all the way. The one thing he could hear was the one thing he needed to hear - Riley’s message on his answering machine. He needed to hear that this was a mistake and Riley wasn’t actually gone. He needed to hear Riley’s voice, and he pushed away all other sounds as he prepared himself to hear that voice once more. He pressed the button on the machine.

_“Hey, Tim. I know you’re probably working right now so I figured it’d be best to leave the message here.”_

The vine of guilt ripped into Tim’s heart as he was reminded why he wasn’t there for Riley. He bent down to the counter with his head in his hands as the message resumed. His eyes and lungs burned as the message continued.

Ziva and Tony silently and hesitantly slipped through the open door. Jay growled for a moment until he recognized Ziva’s scent, then went up to her for attention. Ziva pet him for a moment before turning to see Tim bent over the counter with the answering machine still playing. Tony stood behind her as he listened to the message.

_“Whatever you decide to do with the book, publishing it with us in it or rewriting it to work with your publisher, I’ll be there. I’ll be back tomorrow night and I’d really like to spend it with you. I’m gonna ride around the mountain for a while and catch the sunset. I’ll call you in the morning and we can talk then. Goodnight, Tim… I love you.”_

Tim’s rapid, shallow breathing was the only thing breaking the silence after the message ended. He hadn’t heard anything that convinced him that something was wrong. He pressed the button one more time on the machine as he sunk to the floor. Tony and Ziva slowly entered the kitchen and dropped down to the floor with him while Riley’s voice echoed through the apartment again.

_“Hey, Tim. I know you’re probably working right now so I figured it’d be best to leave the message here.”_

Tony sat on the floor in the corner against the cabinets and pulled Tim to him. Tim’s heart finally shattered, and he broke down into heavy sobs as he clutched at Tony’s jacket. Ziva put her arms around Tim and leaned on his shoulder. As the message continued to play, Tony and Ziva exchanged worried and defeated looks.

_“I’ll call you in the morning and we can talk then. Goodnight, Tim… I love you.”_

Ziva held Tim tighter as her own tears flowed. She remembered what it felt like to fall in love with someone quickly and to lose them shortly after. Tony put his other arm around Tim, and after a moment he slid his hand down Tim’s arm to meet Ziva’s hand. Tim shook in their arms, still hyperventilating. Tony fought the lump in his own throat, feeling both the loss of an old friend and the pain radiating from Tim.

Tony quietly whispered, “I’m so sorry, Tim.”

Tim brokenly croaked between his sobs, “It’s-s-s… my fault.”

“It was an accident, it’s not your fault,” Tony tried to reassure him.

“He was alone… I wasn’t there… I wasn’t there…” Tim repeated the words over and over again, more to himself than to the other two agents.

Tony cursed silently to himself. He wasn’t sure how to help Tim, but he figured getting off the floor and away from the answering machine would be a start. He stroked his thumb over Ziva’s hand, and she looked up teary-eyed at him.

He whispered, “We should get him into bed.”

She nodded and squeezed Tim gently. “Come on, let’s go.”

Tim shook his head. “I don’t want to go to sleep.”

“Then don’t sleep,” Tony offered. “But you need to rest, and this floor won’t help.”

Tim sighed and aloofly conceded between sobs, his head becoming too clouded to protest. They slowly rose up from the floor and shuffled together to the bedroom. Ziva helped Tim out of his sports jacket and unbuttoned his shirt while Tony removed his gun and shoes. Tim curled up on the bed without slipping under the covers, but he pulled one of the pillows to his chest and held it tight. Tony left the door cracked slightly open when he and Ziva went back into the living room. Jay whined at them and held his leash in his mouth while his tail wagged.

Ziva tried to smile. “I’ll take him out. Tony can you find his food?”

“Sure, and I’ll make some coffee and call Gibbs.”

Ziva put Jay into his harness and they went outside while Tony poked around the kitchen for the dog food and coffee. After filling Jay’s bowl and getting the coffee started, he looked around the apartment. It had been a while since the last time he had seen Tim’s apartment, but the only noticeable change was Jay’s dog bed by the writing desk. Remembering his questions about Riley, he pulled out his phone and called Gibbs.

_“Did he make it?”_ Gibbs gruffly asked.

“Yeah, we just got him into bed,” Tony kept his voice low. “He’s blaming himself for it all. What did you find?”

_“It wasn’t an accident, it was murder.”_

“Gut?”

_“Among other things. One of you stay with McGee, the other get back here. I’ll explain later.”_

Tony’s own gut suddenly sank. “Do you think McGee is in danger, too?”

Gibbs considered it for a moment before replying, _“Doubtful. If someone was going to use him as leverage, they would’ve done it before killing Mathis. Stay with him for a few hours and look out for any FBI tails, just in case.”_

“On it. Are you ok, boss?”

Gibbs was silent, then responded by ending the call.

Tony nodded his head understandingly and poured the coffee as Ziva and Jay returned. He stared at the answering machine and contemplated the message that they heard when they came in. Ziva took one of the mugs of coffee and quietly thought of the situation.

Tony finally muttered, “They were happy again. Only makes this whole thing worse.”

She rubbed his arm with her hand. “Are you ok?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Riley and I hadn’t exactly reconnected since he had left, but it still hurts. Honestly though, I think it hurts more because of Tim.”

“I didn’t know Riley really at all now that I think about it, but I know what Tim is going through.”

“How did you get over it?”

Ziva looked up at him. “I haven’t yet, at least not fully. After some time, you get to where you can get moving again, but if you truly love someone then you always carry a part of them with you.”

Tony looked back at the answering machine. “Do you think he’ll keep listening to the message?”

“He might.”

“We should probably delete it.”

“No, Tony, no,” Ziva put her hand on his chest and clutched his jacket. “That’s the only way he can hear his voice again. Don’t take that away.”

“Ziva, he’ll drive himself crazy if he keeps playing it over and over again.”

“Or maybe it’s the only thing that’ll get him through this,” she reasoned. “If anything, we should make a copy of the message in case he deletes it in anger or guilt and regrets it later.”

Tony considered it for a moment, then nodded. He took out his cell phone and started the recorder. He picked up one of the cordless phones, put the earpiece next to the cell’s microphone, and started the message through the phone instead of the machine so Tim wouldn’t have to relive the message again just yet. When it was over, he played the recording quietly from his cell phone to be sure that it was recorded well. As he listened to Riley’s voice again on his own, he slowly felt the lump in his throat return and brought Ziva close for a supportive hug.

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall tensely packed together the paperwork from a case she just finished. Monday had been a usual workday where she had to pretend that the FBI was her priority to not let on that she was making 10 times her salary through OMNI. She could work OMNI full-time, but she liked having additional value as an FBI agent and didn’t see herself needing an exit just yet. The tedium of this Monday, however, was amplified by the absence of communication from her operative in Washington, DC.

Hall tried to be inconspicuous about the fact that she had a second phone in her purse. An advantage to the personality she put on at work was that even if someone saw her using it, they’d just assume she was having an affair or trying to keep her professional and personal life separate. It wasn’t untrue as the FBI felt more like her boring professional life and OMNI more like her exciting private life. Today she had been inordinately consumed by the goings on of this private life as she checked and rechecked her cell phone every hour for a message.

_‘This is wrong,’_ she thought to herself. _‘Sciuto couldn’t have defended herself against 0413, he’s too good. But if he was still alive, he would’ve reported in.’_

She pondered what would’ve happened if perhaps he was captured instead of killed, in which case he would’ve killed himself, which would’ve left his phone with his captors. It was that possibility that stopped her from sending him a message. By the evening when she was finishing casework, she was anxious to get to her private office and find out what happened. She hurried outside across the parking garage towards her Mercedes, and as she was halfway there her OMNI phone finally rang. She fumbled inside her purse to retrieve the phone and saw the number was that of her operative.

“Finally!” she barked with her southern drawl in full swing. “Where in hell have you been?”

The scrambled yet chilling voice of a woman crackled softly through the phone. _“Waiting for you to get out of the office. It took you long enough.”_

Hall froze in her tracks. She knew something had gone wrong, and now someone else on her operative’s phone meant trouble. She looked around to the various security cameras around the lot which she had memorized, wondering which one of them was trained on her. “Who is this?”

_“You know something?”_ the scrambled voice continued nonchalantly. _“The thing I hate more than being kept waiting is having someone intrude on my territory.”_

“ _Fuck_ ,” Hall swore silently to herself. “DC, I presume.” She eyed her car wondering what might happen if she got in.

_“You can get in your car, Dallas. If I wanted you to blow up, I’d have a lot more fun with it than using a car bomb. Plus, if Zero wanted me to kill you, I’m pretty sure you’d already be dead.”_

Hall agreed with her logic, but still gingerly used the remote to unlock the car. She held her breath as she turned the key in the ignition, and with no explosion following the starting of the engine she released the breath and connected her phone to the car. DC’s scrambled voice pulsed from the speakers.

_“This job really makes us all paranoid, doesn’t it?”_

Hall rolled her eyes and groaned. “If this is your idea of ‘playing with your food,’ just get it over with, okay? If you want an apology, you’re not getting one especially if you killed my asset and the target.”

_“Well you might change your tune if I tell Zero that your little incursion nearly cost us the bid from three US Agencies. NCIS was kind enough to send me your assassin’s body. They saved me the trouble of killing him while protecting their Original.”_

“How did-” she paused and thought for a moment about how DC found out Sciuto was an Original. She put the car in gear and played naïve while asking, “What do you mean?”

_“Oh, come on, Dallas, it’s just us girls here. You don’t risk Zero’s wrath if the target isn’t an Original. I’m not going to bother threatening you, but you are going to get on the next flight up here and meet me tomorrow at noon at the Dupont Circle. We have a lot to discuss, and I think you’ll like the deal I’m going to propose.”_

Hall huffed. “Why not just tell me?”

_“It wouldn’t be as much fun.”_ The call clicked to an end.

She looked dubiously at her car radio, then nodded at the parking gate attendant as she left the FBI garage. With DC now knowing where she worked, if not who she was, leaving the FBI started looking much more attractive than it did at the beginning of the day.


	24. Chapter 23

NCIS

Tim hadn’t slept well that night because all he could dream about was Riley. For a moment after he would wake up, he’d see Riley’s face looking back at him from the other pillow. Then after blinking he would be gone again, and it would hit Tim once more that Riley was dead. He heard King’s voice every time telling him that it was his fault, and the guilt would override every other thought in his mind. He wanted to cry again to let it out, but after his dreams he couldn’t cry because he hated himself too much. Now all he wanted was to drown himself in work and forget all about the outside world.

He stormed through the rain from the parking lot into NCIS. He didn’t want to think about how to ignore the rain the way Riley taught him. He didn’t want to think about anything that made him think of Riley. He wordlessly walked past Tony and Ziva’s desks and sat down at his desk without even taking off his coat or putting his gun or badge in his desk. The two agents looked at each other with surprise and concern, but cautiously avoided saying anything. McGee hoped he would have enough work to keep him in the office so he wouldn’t have to think about the weather.

He held his breath when he heard Gibbs approach the bullpen a few minutes later, but no announcement or orders came while Gibbs sat down at his desk. McGee’s hands shook slightly as he lost his train of thought, but he pressed them against his desk and tried to focus on an email. He was startled when Gibbs’ desk phone rang, and his heart sank when Gibbs looked up from the call and gave the order.

“Grab your gear, dead marine.”

McGee took a deep breath before grabbing his bag and standing up. Gibbs strode over to McGee’s desk and held up a hand to have him pause.

Gibbs lowered his voice and whispered, “Tim, no.”

McGee tried not to look at Gibbs as he replied, “I’m fine.”

“We can handle this,” Gibbs offered.

“No, I need to be here. I need the distraction,” McGee pleaded.

Gibbs paused contemplatively, then replied, “Okay. But if I tell you to go, you go.”

McGee nodded and joined the team as they went to the elevator. The ride to the crime scene was silent. He could see Tony and Ziva exchange glances out of the corner of his eye and guessed that they were probably whispering about him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to talk about it, he just wanted to be in and out of the rain as soon as possible. They pulled up to an alley behind a bar where police had already taped off the area. The marine’s body lay face-down on the ground, waterlogged and pale, with a small puddle of vomit around his head that had been spread and diluted by the rain.

McGee tensed at the feeling of the cold rain on his face and hands. For a moment he felt warmth on his cheeks where Riley’s would’ve been, but he quickly blocked the memory and walked under the tape towards the body. Tony and Gibbs went to speak with one of the officers while McGee and Ziva began taking pictures and collecting evidence. McGee at first looked at the marine only through the lens of the camera, but when he saw the body up close with his own eyes he froze. He saw Riley’s face on the body with pale blue eyes, stark white skin, and blue lips. He blinked the face away, but he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking.

Ziva looked up at him worriedly. “McGee,” she softly called. She reached up and put her hands over his on the camera.

The contact snapped him out of his dread for a moment. “Ziva, no. I’m fine.”

She looked steadily at him. “I didn’t ask, but no, you are not.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered and looked away.

“I know you don’t want to right now, but just know that when you do, you can talk to me.”

“Thank you, Ziva, but I just want to focus on this.” He lifted the camera and took another picture of the body even though he had enough pictures of it already.

Ziva nodded, but she still had worry in her eyes. She bent down to scoop some of the vomit into an evidence jar. McGee was glad for an interruption in the scene when Ducky and Palmer arrived to examine the body. He moved to further down the alley to look for anything that could possibly be evidence. While Ducky probed the body, Tony and Gibbs joined the group.

“What do you got, Duck?” Gibbs asked.

“An approximate time of death, given the cold brought by the rain, puts him around four to six hours.”

“Fits our witness description,” Tony added while looking through his notes. “Bartender places him at the bar until closing time at 2 AM. They kept his keys and called him a cab, but he wandered off while waiting.”

Gibbs bent down to get a closer look at the body. “Cause of death?”

“See how his lips have turned deep blue,” Ducky pointed to the body’s lips, “they’re a classic sign of asphyxiation. There are no ligature marks or bruises on his neck to indicate that he was strangled.”

McGee kept trying to stay focused, but hearing Ducky speak kept bringing his mind back to how King spoke of Riley’s body being discovered. His mind was spinning, and the din of the rain around him started to disorient him. The team’s voices seemed distant and echoed in his ears.

Ziva spoke up, “Wallet is still here with money in it, so he wasn’t mugged.”

“Bartender says no one was with him,” Tony chimed in. “Sounds like he might have died alone.”

The sound of heavy plastic and glass crashing to the ground startled the team, and they looked up to see McGee holding himself up against the wall with his camera in pieces at his feet. He was pale and shaking.

“Oh god,” Tony quickly mumbled and rushed over to him.

“McGee!” Gibbs called and walked over.

“Boss I’m- I’m sorry, I d-dropped- I’m fine-,” McGee stammered.

Gibbs shook his head. “No, you’re not. Ride back with Ducky and Palmer, then go home. Take a few days of personal time.”

“I can-”

“No,” Gibbs cut him off. “Go. Home.” he ordered slowly. “We’ll talk later.”

Tony put on hand on Tim’s arm and another on his shoulder. “Come on, Tim, let’s go. It’s ok.”

McGee felt terrible as he was escorted away by Tony. He sat in the van waiting for Ducky and Palmer to be done with the body, but he knew he couldn’t just sit at home and think. There was only one place he wanted to be.

NCIS

Tim stared blankly off the bridge as the rain poured down in sheets around him. He stood in front of the blackened and crunched railing that was taped off from the accident but still plainly visible. The occasional car passed behind him, one or two honking their horns as he stood just a little too close to where they drove, but he didn’t hear them. He didn’t even hear the rain as it pounded around him. All he heard since he got in his car to leave NCIS was the memory of the roar of the motorcycle as it revved between his legs, the sound of the wind whistling over his outstretched hand, the smell of Riley’s leather jacket in his nostrils, and the screeching of tires before the smashing of metal he wasn’t there to hear.

Every time he heard the crash in his mind, he felt like he was the one hit by the car. His insides twisted painfully whenever his eyes found the marks on the railing, but he kept looking back at them. He was too afraid to look down at the dried riverbed under the bridge. Part of him knew Riley’s body wouldn’t be there, but the rest of him was too afraid that somehow it would be.

It felt wrong standing alone in the rain. Riley was always there with him when he had done it intentionally. Then at the crime scene that morning, even though his friends and coworkers were there he could barely breathe because he felt so alone without Riley with him in the rain. Tim tried to imagine Riley standing next to him, but he couldn’t keep the image steady. He imagined Riley in that soaked green Irish Pub t-shirt that clung to his muscled chest, and in his khaki shorts that were now darker for being wet.

“I’m so sorry, Riley,” Tim whispered to the image.

_“Never apologize,”_ Riley reminded him with his usual cheeky grin.

“I have to. I wasn’t here, and if I hadn’t…” Tim scrunched his face in a frown and his eyes welled with tears. “If I hadn’t broken your heart I would’ve been there with you, and you wouldn’t have been here when that car came. It’s my fault.”

Riley sat on the metal beam on the side of the bridge where Tim faced. _“You came back, remember?”_

Tim sobbed quietly as a few tears escaped. Despite the guilt-ridden dreams he had been having, the Riley he truly remembered was supportive as always. “I was going to make it right, but you were still here because of me. I can’t just let that go.”

A man’s voice surprised him from behind, “You’re going to have to.”

Tim spun around and saw Gibbs standing a few feet behind him. His truck was parked in the middle of the bridge behind them and his hazard lights were on. Tim was too deep in thought to even remember hearing him approach.

“Gibbs…” Tim muttered and quickly wiped away his tears. He glanced back at the railing, but the image of Riley was already gone. He paused for a moment, then looked back to Gibbs and asked, “How did you know I was here?”

Gibbs looked around then replied, “It wasn’t hard to guess when you weren’t at your apartment and you weren’t answering your phone. I wanted to come here too.”

“I left my phone at home so I’d be alone,” Tim mumbled.

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Tim, and he wouldn’t want you to. It’s not your fault.” He slowly stepped towards Tim through the rain.

Tim turned away and looked down at the railing. “He was here because of me, Gibbs! He was stressed because of our fight, and he came out here, and… and… he wanted me to stay…” His voice broke as more sobs wracked through his body. “Why didn’t I stay?”

Gibbs walked over to Tim and pulled him into a tight hug. Tim resisted the touch and struggled for a moment, his hands forming fists around the fabric of Gibbs’ coat with half of him pulling at Gibbs for comfort and the other half nearly ripping the coat to shreds for physical relief. He settled into a steady cry, letting his tears join the already rain-soaked shoulder. He breathed shakily as Gibbs held him for what seemed like a whole day but by his watch was only two minutes. His body began feeling drained, fatigue from a sleepless night weighing more and more on him. Gibbs put his hands on Tim’s shoulders and propped him upright.

“Come on, let’s get you out of the rain before you catch a cold,” he suggested.

Tim nodded sleepily. “I’ll… I’ll head home and see you tomorrow.”

Gibbs eyed him worriedly. “No, come with me. We need to make a stop first.”

“I’ll be okay, Gibbs,” Tim weakly argued.

“I’m not asking,” Gibbs replied softly and prodded Tim along towards the truck.

“But my car-”

“We’ll come back for it,” Gibbs added. “It’s out of the way. It’ll be fine.”

He nodded again and walked with Gibbs to the truck. When he sat inside, he could feel just how wet and cold he was despite having been numb to it all outside. Looking out at the bridge, he could see and hear the rain growing in intensity. His brain felt like clay, and it took him a moment to muster up the energy to buckle his seatbelt. Gibbs was silent as he started driving.

Tim recognized the turn into the driveway and saw Riley’s cabin peeking over the hill as they approached. A small feeling of nausea crept up his stomach as they neared the house. The right garage door where Riley’s motorcycle would’ve been was left open, and the left was closed where the truck usually parked. Tim stared through the open garage door, noting all the details and placing an image of himself mounting the motorcycle behind Riley.

The driver’s side door opened and snapped him out of his stupor, and he noticed Gibbs getting back _into_ the truck from having been outside. The dashboard clock showed he’d been sitting there for nearly five minutes even though it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Tim sighed as he was losing all concept of his time and surroundings, but by the twisting of his insides upon seeing the house, he knew one thing for certain.

“Looks empty. You ready?” Gibbs asked quietly.

Tim’s face fell. “Boss, I don’t know if I can go in there.”

Gibbs squinted through fogging windshield back to the house. “I checked the doors, there’s no crime scene tape sealing it off. The FBI hasn’t been here yet.”

“No, I-” Tim stammered and paused, a shiver running through his body at the thought of going inside. “That’s not what I mean. I mean _I_ don’t… I can’t.”

Gibbs nodded and sighed, still looking out at the house. “When they asked why Riley was out here, why didn’t you tell them about the house?”

Tim thought about it for a moment, remembering the questions when he was in Interrogation. “It’s what he would’ve wanted. He said he kept it from his records, and… I just… somehow it felt like the right thing to do.”

“Tim…” Gibbs started but hesitated, then clenched his fist and continued. “I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear this, but you need to know the truth.”

Tim’s heart caught in his chest and sent a jolt of anticipation through him.

“Riley was murdered. It wasn’t an accident. OMNI put a hit on him.”

Tim’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “What?”

Gibbs huffed with anger and continued, “The FBI used him as a buy-in to get some advanced computer virus.”

The wind felt pulled out of Tim’s lungs. He struggled to find his voice. “H-h-how do you know?”

“Because Shepard did the same thing for NCIS using Abby, as did other agencies, but OMNI selected Riley as their target just for show. Abby came to me as soon as Shepard told her what was happening, but… Riley-” Gibbs paused to heave an angry huff. “Riley never knew and didn’t stand a chance. They were tracking his phone, and Abby’s, and yours. Now that he’s gone, none of you are being tracked anymore.”

Hot tears of horror and rage streamed down Tim’s face to his hanging jaw. Instead of the nausea he had previously felt, he felt something else rising in him that he hadn’t felt for the past two days: Purpose – a purpose backed by a fierce determination. Shepard couldn’t be trusted, Abby was in danger, and Riley needed to be avenged. The wheels started turning in his mind. “What do you need me to do?”

Gibbs would’ve felt pride in his agent for turning his emotions into focus, but he was too busy feeling the anger of his own. “We have to take OMNI down and expose the corrupt agents. We can’t openly investigate Riley’s case without drawing attention, but there’s no one else who could take on OMNI and the FBI’s computers better than you. We need you, for both Abby and Riley’s sakes.”

Gibbs opened the glovebox and pulled out two pairs of latex gloves. Tim snatched a pair and could feel his ‘Agent-mode’ ramping up as he began seeing the house as a crime scene.

“You think Riley left OMNI information here?” Tim asked. “He came here to get _away_ from work.”

“I’m not sure,” Gibbs admitted. “But it’s where he was before he died. It’s the best place to start.”

They both quickly exited the truck and sprinted into the garage. It smelled humid and musty from the open door to the rain, though nothing seemed out of place despite the missing motorcycle. Gibbs drew his gun and tested the doorknob for the door into the house. Finding it unlocked, he whistled for Tim to follow. Tim nodded and drew his gun, having never bothered to remove it during the course of the day.

They entered silently and crept towards the kitchen and living room, both rooms still lit by the overhead lights. The house seemed still and silent, but they still searched every room until they were satisfied that they were alone. Tim noticed Gibbs maneuvering through the house with a sense of familiarity, which reminded him with an awkward tension that Gibbs had been there many more times than he. Pushing that out of his mind, he followed Gibbs back downstairs to the living room.

In the living room on the coffee table, Tim noticed the thick stack of papers of his manuscript next to the empty yellow envelope that carried it, along with Riley’s frameless glasses on top. The papers were neatly stacked, though just disheveled enough to look like they had definitely been read through. Tim knelt on the floor next to the table and picked up the glasses, then had to hold back tears as he remembered how he couldn’t resist Riley when he wore them. He looked back at Gibbs who was looking through the pictures on the painted gold tree on the wall above the desk.

Gibbs’ hand hovered over the empty slot on one of the nails where a picture seemed to be removed somewhat recently. He nodded and gulped as he remembered, then looked down at the desk. He gingerly opened the center drawer and started lightly tapping around the empty envelopes and stationery until he saw the bottom of a picture frame. He pulled the frame out from the drawer as Tim approached behind him. The picture inside was of Gibbs out on the deck on a sunny morning, casually looking out at the valley with a cup of coffee resting on the railing next to him. The frame and glass had a dust layer mostly matching those on the other pictures. Tim remembered Gibbs telling him about the picture, and he realized that Riley must’ve taken it down when he started seeing Tim. He felt a twinge of pity for Gibbs, realizing what he had lost as well but had no one to talk to about it. Tim put his hand sympathetically on Gibbs’ shoulder and lightly squeezed. Gibbs took a deep breath and nodded appreciatively, then slid the picture back in the drawer.

Tim went back to the coffee table and slipped the manuscript into the envelope. “Do you think it’ll be okay if I brought this back with me?”

“Is that your new book?” Gibbs asked.

Tim nodded. “He loved it. I want to send it off to be published. We wrote through part of it together, right here on this couch…” he trailed off as he remembered the pair of them curled up on the couch together laughing about the chapter.

He remembered how Riley convinced him to go on the motorcycle ride, leading him to the garage and lending him his father’s brown leather jacket. The image of Riley appeared in front of him as it did on the bridge, including his smile. Tim looked up at him as Riley backed away and happily strutted towards the garage. Tim tried to smile with him but couldn’t muster it, though he did follow the image in his mind to the garage. Gibbs observed him curiously and followed. Tim slowly walked into the garage even though Riley’s image had disappeared. He went over to the closet in the far corner and opened it to find the brown jacket with the single vertical white stripe on a hanger. He pulled out the coat and felt through the pockets wondering if Riley may have left anything there for him to find, but only found the matching brown gloves. The scent of the leather reached his nostrils and brought back the memories of their first ride together, how Tim clung to Riley, how he put himself in Riley’s hands that evening, and how they spilled their deepest regrets to each other. The feeling amplified the crushing emptiness inside him, and he squeezed the jacket to himself to relish in the memory.

Gibbs stood by the door watching Tim relive the short time he had with Riley. “You should keep it.”

Tim blinked back tears and looked at him. “You think so?”

“Yeah,” Gibbs replied with a half-smile. “It’s not something the FBI will miss if they ever find this place, but you will.”

Tim nodded to Gibbs with a smile and hung the jacket over his arm, then slipped past the truck back towards the house. As he passed the truck, his eyes briefly scanned the license plate and in his mind he added the truck as being in the right place based on the evidence. Then he froze as the thought occurred to him and he whipped his head back around to the truck.

“What?” Gibbs called.

“It’s here,” Tim mumbled as he mentally ran through the case. “If the FBI didn’t know about this house, then they’d be looking for this truck at Riley’s apartment and not find it. It’s a basic part of any investigation even if they already found his body. So why didn’t they report it missing?”

Gibbs nodded in agreement, connecting the pieces. “Then either King knew about this place and was testing what you knew, or he is-”

“-Working with OMNI and burying Riley’s death with a bogus investigation,” Tim completed. “The house would’ve been sealed and searched if they knew about it, and they would’ve asked me about the truck if they were actually looking for it.”

“If OMNI tracked him here, they may still be watching the place,” Gibbs deduced. “We should leave, quickly.”

They both ran out of the garage into Gibbs’ truck, then Gibbs carefully steered them out of the driveway so that no tire tracks were left behind.

Gibbs looked around for signs of any cars parked nearby for surveillance, then looked over to Tim. “We need to start looking into everyone managing Riley’s case and his team, starting with King. We’ll need hard evidence before even trying to make a move. While the team finishes our case, I want you to make a list of equipment we’ll need to hack into the FBI. We can’t do this from NCIS.”

“Okay,” Tim replied, though he looked concerned. “How are we going to pay for this? It’ll be expensive.”

“Shepard,” Gibbs answered confidently, though with another twitch of anger. “She’ll approve the operation. I’ll have cash for you this evening.”

Tim nodded and began formulating a search plan in his head.

NCIS

Evelyn Hall was torn between multiple feelings on her trip to Washington, DC. She had concocted a story of a dying friend to beg off of work immediately after the call from DC the previous night, spent very little time at home packing, and was on a red-eye flight out of Dallas in the same clothes she had worked in all day. On the bright side, she had booked herself into a First-Class seat and chose a lavish hotel suite for two nights to give herself some time to luxuriate before and after her meeting with DC, whoever she might be. She also sat in comfort knowing that two of her operatives were booked on the same flight in coach and were staying the next room over.

In the morning, she tried not to obviously rush through her breakfast before walking to a nearby boutique salon for a quick grooming of her long, platinum-blonde hair. Back in her room, she slipped herself into a sleek, knee-length black dress that accentuated her moderate bust and slim tone, then slid into a pair of stiletto heels and put on a simple silver necklace with a single diamond on it. She smoothed her hair over to one side and admired herself in the mirror. This was the side of her life she wanted to live more often, the glamorous powerhouse woman gliding by with an air of confidence, importance, and secrecy.

With two more hours to go, she ordered a car service to pick her up from the hotel at 11:30, met with her operatives to go over surveillance photos of the Dupont Circle and the surrounding buildings, then anxiously paced in her suite while listening to the local news. Ordinarily she wouldn’t be nervous about meeting another OMNI Regional Director, but this one held something over her head that could come back to damage her. The one thing on her mind was wondering what was so important that she had to fly out overnight to meet face-to-face when these types of deals were usually done over secure channels.

The rain had died down to a light mist as the rainclouds drifted westward. Hall still donned a black umbrella that complemented her outfit and kept her out of view of whatever cameras that might have been trained on her as she exited the car across from the circle. She tried to blend in with the crowd, a few of whom were wearing suits but many of whom were bumbling tourists.

The Dupont Circle was in the northwest section of Washington, DC, where three large avenues and two narrow streets intersected in a large traffic circle around a small park. Six concrete sidewalks pointed inward to a circular courtyard with a large stone sculpted fountain at the center, while the spaces between the sidewalks were luscious green lawns filled with trees. The courtyard was lined with long park benches where few people sat because of the earlier rain.

Hall strolled towards the large stone fountain at the center with a keen eye observing everyone, especially those by themselves. Her OMNI phone rang in her purse with a phone number she didn’t recognize. “Hello?”

An unscrambled and young-sounding female voice lined with sarcasm met her ears. _“You could’ve at least TRIED to look inconspicuous.”_

Hall looked around and to her right on one of the long benches she saw a short young woman sitting by herself, looking straight at her while on a cell phone. When they locked eyes, the woman smirked and ended the call by closing the cheap, disposable flip-phone. Hall sighed with contempt and walked calmly over, her heels clicking on the wet concrete slabs. The woman had a round face with bright blue eyes and shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair twisted into a bun held in place with a pencil. Her blue jeans and red plaid button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up screamed _Gap_ and made Hall’s outfit look like a ballgown. Hall studied the woman and stopped a few feet from her.

“I thought she was coming herself,” Hall called to her, semi-concealing her Alabama drawl.

The woman smiled gleefully and held up her open right hand and bare wrist. “Read ‘em and weep.”

Hall raised her eyebrow at the woman’s cavalier attitude, then looked for a dry spot on the bench while she retrieved a small UV flashlight from her clutch. The woman cupped her wrist with her other hand to provide shade for Hall’s light, and when Hall shone the light, the OMNI symbol glowed in her skin next to the number ‘0258.’ The designation was a lower number than Hall’s, meaning this careless-looking woman had been in OMNI longer that her.

Hall’s jaw dropped, and without hiding her accent she quipped, “ _You’re_ DC?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped while retrieving her own flashlight.

“I mean, you look like a burnt-out grad student,” Hall continued while exposing the back of her neck and turning away from the woman.

DC clicked the flashlight and saw the OMNI symbol glow on Hall’s neck next to the number ‘0319.’ “And you look like a dolled-up escort. Believe me, I’ve buried enough of them for senators.”

Hall smoothed her hair back into place and tried to appear comfortable by sitting back on the bench. “I assume you didn’t make me fly my ass up here just to make fun of my clothes and take me to a keg party back at your dorm?”

“Ugh, come on, Agent Evelyn Hall, I’d hoped you’d be a little more fun than this,” DC quipped with a smile. She then removed the battery and SIM card from her burner phone, then folded the SIM card in half and snapped it. “Or at least grateful. Giving our government operatives tattoos on the neck was actually my idea. Of course, it only came after I had gotten mine on my wrist, but I’ve probably saved you hours of finding the right fashion accessories.”

Hall’s eyes narrowed threateningly and defensively crossed her legs. Now DC knew her name, but Hall didn’t know hers. She didn’t like the imbalance. She lowered her voice to a hiss, “Whatever you think you know about me is the face I put on for OMNI. I would think you’d know how to separate your personal and professional lives. It’s what we all have to do.”

“Screw separation,” DC huffed. “One of the perks of being fully invested in OMNI while being in a position like ours is a real sense of freedom – getting to go outside without looking over your shoulder because you already know someone’s there, kicking back in some Chuck Taylors with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s knowing that everyone knows what you eat and no one cares, screwing a guy even though you know it’s being recorded, all of it. Once you accept complete predictability and give full attention to OMNI, you can move on with your life with complete OMNI protection. Not like those two goons you brought with you; I’m talking everywhere – totally covered. You’ve got your eye on the glamour of this job, but you can’t be this tense or smell of fresh blood when you’re rubbing elbows with high-level politicians. They like it when you seem like the one with power, not like the one who pulls the trigger.”

“What in hell are you even talking about?” Hall sighed, feeling increasingly annoyed.

“I’m trying to tell you how to act if you want to play in the big leagues out here,” DC explained. “If you want more influence over our little shadow economy, you gotta be where the action is, right?”

Hall was visibly taken aback by DC’s answer, which DC noticed.

“I mean, it wasn’t hard to figure out,” she continued. “You imposed your help on me to set up the warehouse for a raid, you ID-ed an Original and sent someone here to claim her instead of telling me; It’s pretty clear you’re not trying to be a team player here, hun. You want my job, and now we have a problem.”

“Two problems,” corrected Hall. “You know my real name.”

DC smiled. “That’s not a problem. Think of it more like a guarantee.”

“A guarantee of what?” Hall asked curiously.

“Your cooperation,” DC answered with an intriguing smile. “Like I said, I have a proposal to make. Your failed hit on the NCIS girl nearly derailed half of our buyers. I convinced NCIS to calm down and destroy their evidence, but in exchange for letting them know who gets the virus at the end of the auction. So not only are we breaching our buyers’ privacy, they also know that this girl is a threat to us and will use that against us. I’m willing to hand her over to you and let you claim her on your own territory _after_ the auction. If you want to work out a deal with NCIS, fine, but I’ll step back from the whole thing.”

Hall considered her offer. “How generous of you. I assume Zero knows about all this, then?”

DC smiled again. “Another perk of my job I guess you didn’t know: I keep the OMNI database, and I don’t need his permission to access it. That’s also how I got to your operative’s stash and found your private number. I just ran a little facial recognition to be sure of who you were. If it’s all the same to you, I think it’s safe to leave Zero out of this one.”

“Alright,” Hall smirked, ever-so-slightly impressed. “And what do you get out of this?”

DC propped her head up with her hand and leaned back in her seat on the bench. “What are your two major exports?”

The cities OMNI occupied weren’t chosen at random. While each one had money flowing in and out through different types of illicit transactions, they each also had certain specialties unique to their region. In the United States, New York was chosen for its corporate connections, Washington, DC for its political exploits, and Atlanta for its imported drugs. While most people pegged Dallas as oil country based on the TV shows, Hall knew her region’s true exports before she even took the position as Regional Director.

“Weapons and manpower,” Hall answered. “How much do you want?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but I took a hit when the warehouse was raided, and I would just like to regain some of my reserves.” DC shrugged. “You’ll get your Original when I say so, and I’ll get a shipment of guns and guys. That’s it, plain and simple.”

“Not for me. We still have the problem that you know my name,” Hall repeated, staring intently at the other woman.

DC stood up and stretched. “I really wouldn’t worry about that. I’m much more interested in OMNI’s continued expansion and presence as a whole, which includes your participation as a Regional Director. But make no mistake - even though we’re both Regional Directors, I highly outrank you. Any move you make against me will not go over well with anyone else on our level, whereas me simply whispering your name in the wrong ear at the NSA would bring your usefulness to a very sudden and definitive end. Consider what having me as a real friend could do for you, especially if I decide to groom you as my successor.”

She walked happily away as Hall watched her, her true abilities hidden under a perfect guise of nonchalance. Hall couldn’t believe how they were seriously negotiating terms in broad daylight with a bustling crowd of people around them. Hall continued sitting on the bench pondering for nearly ten minutes after DC had disappeared into the masses. She still hadn’t been killed by any of DC’s agents, and while she wasn’t perfectly comfortable with the imbalance of power, she now had DC believing they would be allies and knew her current weakness. It was a step in the right direction for Hall, who stood up with a smirk and called for her car.

NCIS

Tim returned to NCIS to the surprise of both Tony and Ziva, though he didn’t involve himself in the case. Instead he spent much of the evening preparing the list of equipment he’d need to covertly hack the FBI, which included setting up an account with an Internet Service Provider under a false business name, the same tactics used by OMNI. He didn’t believe it when he called Gibbs to tell him they would need nearly $4,000 worth of equipment, and Gibbs merely replied, _“Okay.”_ He half-smiled with technological glow knowing he’d soon have his hands on the best of the best in consumer computer products. He sat by his computer, flicking through the pictures he had taken on his iPhone, and stopped when he saw his favorite – one he took of Riley reading while sitting in the large plushy chair in the bedroom. He brushed his thumb over the image of Riley’s face.

“We’ll find ‘em, Riley. I promise.”

The case that began their day was simple enough such that Tony and Ziva both agreed that Tim could go home. Tim didn’t leave at first, though he conceded when he realized he couldn’t do anything else on his covert investigation before Gibbs got the money from Shepard, which would take more time. Even though he knew his way home, he had forgotten to turn off the Maps app that he used to get back from Riley’s cabin. The directions kept changing and rerouting as the feature was still new, but he decided to let it guide him the rest of the way back out of curiosity. The rain had finally stopped as he was driving home, though the remaining haze painted his vision orange from the glow of passing streetlamps. As he sat waiting for a green light at an intersection, his phone rang on the dashboard mount. He quickly retrieved it and nearly dropped it when he saw Abby’s contact calling in. He flicked the Answer button and the speaker button.

“Hey, Abs, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to come see you today. I wasn’t really working the case with the others, I was just…”

There was silence as he tried to figure out the words to communicate his focus on investigating Riley and forgetting about her.

“I dunno,” he continued, “I’m just not doing great after all of this. How are you?”

Silence.

“Abby?”

A scrambled female voice replied, _“I’m sorry, this isn’t Abby.”_

His eyes widened as he stared at the phone. With a concerned frown he ended the call, then redialed Abby’s number hoping to actually reach her.

The phone answered, but the scrambled voice replied. _“Agent McGee, please listen. I need your help.”_

Tim’s sense of alarm grew, and he looked around at the nearby pedestrians and cars for anyone that was looking at him. “Where’s Abby? What have you done with her?!”

_“No, no, nothing. I’m not actually using her phone. I just needed you to answer when you were alone in your car.”_

He heard the hesitation in the voice and kept looking around. His vision caught on the one thing looking straight at him – a traffic control camera trained right on his car from across the intersection. His jaw started hanging at the possibility that he was being seen there. “Who is this?”

_“You can call me Amber. I need your help.”_

“Help with what?”

_“I’m with OMNI, and I want out.”_

Tim froze. He was being contacted directly by OMNI, the very people who killed Riley. In his rear-view mirror he saw multiple cars lining up behind him at the light that should’ve turned green already, yet hadn’t, and he was at the front of the line. The more he looked, the more he could swear the camera to be looking more at _him_ than his car.

“Why would you contact me?”

_“Because I know you were able to outsmart some of our people before, and I’m hoping you can do it again. Please, I’m scared. I don’t know where else to go.”_

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. He weighed the situation in his mind – on one hand, she was part of a domestic terrorism organization, was possibly involved in killing his boyfriend, and was likely leading him into some kind of trap. But on the other hand, she may be a victim like Manning, and she was asking for help. Either way, he felt anger and fear building inside him.

“If you’re really with OMNI, then you’ll know that I don’t want anything to do with you.”

_“What you really want is to bring us down, and I’m willing to help you with that. But there’s something I want you to do first – a test. I need to know that I can trust you.”_

“Trust?” he snarled, ignoring his fear and letting the stranger feel his anger. “Do you know what OMNI has done to me? To the people I love?! Why the hell should I even believe anything you’re saying?!”

Even through the phone, he could hear her distress. _“You don’t understand! I know things here, and that has me trapped! Even if this phone call surfaces, I’ll be executed for going to the feds. I’m expendable. I can barely do anything without OMNI noticing. It’s taken a lot for me to even set this up.”_

He frowned up at the camera. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, you’re probably not as expendable as you say.”

There was silence, then the light finally turned green. Tim hurriedly accelerated but was soon at another red light with another traffic camera.

_“Traffic lights are nothing compared to the things you can’t see happening, Agent McGee,”_ she replied smartly through the scrambler. _“Your phone and your computer are both infected with a tracking virus, and if you do this test for me then I’ll disable it permanently even if you decide not to help me afterward.”_

Tim’s mouth hung open, and his eyes were fixed on his phone. His thoughts flew so rapidly through his mind that he could barely keep them straight. _‘They tracked Riley… they tracked me before, even Gibbs told me, but they’re still tracking me? Are they going to try to kill me? Will she have me killed if I don’t help her?’_ He started wondering if he even had a choice. “What is it you want me to do?”

The light turned green again, letting him proceed.

_“When the call ends, your map will update with a new address that will take you to a parking lot. In spot 12 there will be a bag of coffee against the wall, and I want you to pick it up.”_

Alarms went off in Tim’s head. Coffee was often used to cover the smell of drugs during smuggling.

“No. Absolutely not. I’m not trafficking drugs for you.”

_“It’s not drugs, it’s… something personal. I want you to run whatever lab tests you can and let me know the results. But don’t, under any circumstances, try to ID me with it. If I get flagged on any system, that will put me in danger.”_

Tim considered his options. “How will I know that you’ve lived up to your end of the bargain? I didn’t know I was being tracked before, so how will I know I’m not being tracked after?”  
  


_“When you’re done, I’ll remotely deactivate it on your computer, and then send you something that will disable the OMNI source code on your phone. You’ll see your phone process it. If you do this test and decide to help me after, I’ll give you whatever information I can about OMNI before you get me out.”_

He didn’t like it, and while his gut told him that it was dangerous, it also told him that she needed help and it was his job to help her.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

_“Thank you, Agent McGee.”_

The call ended, and the address changed in his Maps app to lead him down a different route. The light then changed from red to green, and he followed the route to an alley parking lot. Puddles of water obscured the numbers on many of the spots, but number 12 stood empty and had a shining silver coffee bag. Tim popped his trunk and pulled an evidence bag and some latex gloves from his go-bag. He gingerly lifted the coffee bag from the ground and sealed it in the clear evidence bag. Holding the bag like a bomb, he grabbed his phone with his other hand and hesitantly dialed Abby as he got back into the car.

This time, Tim could tell the voice actually belonged to Abby. _“Hey, I missed you today. Gibbs told me what you guys are going to be up to. Are you okay?”_

He looked at the evidence bag in his hand. “I think I’ve just been tapped by OMNI.”


	25. Chapter 24

NCIS

Marquez checked his Glock one last time as his black SUV approached the deal site. He sat in the back while his two bodyguards used the front seats. After the warehouse raid, he decided to start having two bodyguards instead of just one. He wasn’t the paranoid type, but he also wasn’t normally the type to lose two long-standing OMNI operatives or their data shipments, or to lose an entire warehouse full of goods and people. He wasn’t taking any chances with OMNI’s next shipment of orders, nor the stockpile of weapons that accompanied it in the crate in the back of the SUV. He didn’t like having to go too deep into Ridgeback territory, but they assured him it would be the safest place and much earlier in the morning than police patrols wanted to be there.

The Ridgeback Motorcycle Club was a regular distributor for Marquez’s chief exports: drugs and guns. They claimed a few blocks of dilapidated buildings in the DC sprawl and rebuilt their interiors so that they were safe for use but still appeared outwardly grungy. With income from the nightclubs and other businesses wishing to remain discreet, they managed to expand even further. They mostly managed to avoid conflicts with police outside of drunken bar fights, and police did what they could establish a loose presence without triggering an unnecessary armed conflict. In the past, the Ridgebacks’ drug shipments from Marquez occasionally included a USB drive hidden inside that only the Club President, a bald, pale, and lanky man who went by the name Cross, and his OMNI operative would find before the drugs were separated for distribution. After losing two drives in shipments to other agents, Marquez wanted to personally ensure that this drive exchanged hands.

Marquez exited the SUV and looked around in the darkness. Cross and two of his guards stood in the rear loading dock of a building in the middle of the block. Marquez knew the man had the brawn for the orders he was being given, but orders were not Cross’ favorite thing to receive. The dock held a couple of dumpsters as well as an overhead streetlight casting light down on Cross and his guards. As Marquez looked around, he also spotted a guard on the roof of the building and another across the street by the corner of a parking garage. The guards from both sides were all equipped with either an assault rifle or sub-machine gun.

Marquez approached the dock with his two guards but stopped with plenty of room between the two parties. “Numbers,” he ordered.

The guard to Cross’ left lowered his weapon and walked to the halfway point between them with Cross. Marquez and the guard to his right did the same. They each brought out their right wrist where their OMNI tattoos were revealed by an ultraviolet flashlight Marquez produced from his pocket. After verifying the designations, even though they already knew each other’s faces, they each took steps back to gain comfortable distance.

Marquez continued, “Our friends have lost another shipment of product and data. They want you to make an example of a few people they call Originals.” He pulled out a metal-encased flash drive from his pocket. “Your orders, details, suspected locations for the Originals,” he gestured behind him to the SUV, “and untraceable weapons and ammunition that won’t lead back to you, us, or OMNI.”

Cross folded his arms. “I don’t think I like this, man. We ain’t no hit squad and we don’t want that rep’.”

“Then you’d better make sure no one’s left to spread the word,” Marquez snapped. “OMNI’s DC Director is getting pissed with the Originals getting in the way, and that’s coming down on me. I’ll make sure you are pai-”

He was cut off by a resounding shot fired from the guard on the roof. The five remaining guards, as well as Marquez and Cross, raised their weapons and turned to look up at the roof. The sound of the guard’s body hitting the roof and hanging over the edge was joined by two small thuds and a snuffed-out cry from the guard across the street as two suppressed shots burst through his abdomen from behind.

“SNIPER!” one of the guards called out.

Marquez turned to look across the street and saw four muzzle flashes out of the darkness from an upper level of the parking garage. The four shots tore through the two guards now on his left before they could fire. The two guards on the right each fired a few shots before the sniper’s muzzle quickly flashed again. The two shots met their targets’ heads with deadly precision, leaving a red mist in their wake as they exited. Marquez dove for the SUV for protection, but a shot slammed into the left side of his chest next to his heart. The force of the impact knocked him off his feet and onto his back. The pain blinded every sense such that he didn’t hear the crunch of two bullets finding Cross’ chest and forehead.

Marquez felt his body failing as he struggled to breathe. After what felt like a pained lifetime, Marquez saw the attacker approach. He wore a black motorcycle helmet, black tactical pants, black gloves, and a black leather jacket with blue stripes across the shoulders. He had a rifle strapped to his back, but Marquez could only see the stock and the tip of the rifle’s suppressor as the man approached. Marquez tried to lift his arm to aim his sidearm at the man but couldn’t muster the strength with the breach high in his chest.

Wordlessly, the assailant pried the pistol from Marquez’s hand, then felt around his victim’s pockets and fished out the flash drive and a cell phone. He then dragged Marquez by his arm towards the center of the dock. Marquez groaned in pain as he heard the sound of three more bodies being dragged close to his, as well as a shuffling of footsteps, the sound of an approaching car, and the opening of the SUV’s doors. His attacker returned to him, tapped a few buttons on Marquez’s cellphone, then let it fall onto the ground next to his head.

Marquez heard a voice on the phone, _“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”_ and looked up to see the barrel of his own pistol just before the shot fired.

NCIS

“I don’t know what else to tell you, McGee! I’ve run every test I could!” Abby called exasperatedly from the back of her lab as she started her morning music.

McGee groaned in frustration. It had been two days since he’d dropped off the mysterious package left for him by “Amber,” the supposed OMNI agent that enlisted his help. After doing X-rays and various scans of the coffee bag to determine if there were any explosives, they found only a small vial contained in the coffee grounds.

After fishing it out, Abby took one look at the light-yellow-tinted liquid in the vial and disappointedly asked, “Pee? For real?”

For two days, she tested and re-tested the sample to find anything that could explain the level of discretion being employed.

McGee looked back at the screen. “Maybe we could run a comparative DNA test against… I don’t know, maybe Manning, or the guy that almost… you know…?”

“Come on, Tim, you know we can’t,” she scolded. “Even a comparative test could send up a flag for certain results. And you heard what she said – it could get her killed! I won’t do it.”

“Abby, someone from OMNI almost killed you!” he pleaded. “Are we really going to believe what someone else in there says? This could be helping them.”

Abby’s face fell to a defensive look. “Don’t do that. You know not everyone is there by choice. I mean, look at how you got roped into doing something for them and you aren’t even a member. I won’t risk it.”

McGee instantly felt guilty and he took a step back. “I’m sorry. I guess it still hasn’t sunk in – what you went through, I mean. I know you never asked to be mixed up in what OMNI is now.”

She nodded and walked slowly towards him, then pulled him into a worried hug. He held her tightly and comfortingly, his mind still buzzing.

“I just don’t know what to do,” he continued. “I’ve tried looking into the FBI’s files on Riley and his case just isn’t in there yet, and so far the OMNI leads have been dead ends. Now that I have something to work with, I feel like we’re betraying Riley by not doing more with it, like we’re crossing a line and have nothing to show for it.”

Abby nodded and stepped back to the computer screen. “I know. I mean, if this is even hers, why not just take a pregnancy test? Even to test your cooperation, she wouldn’t need a Mass Spec machine to tell you she’s pregnant. She could’ve given us a useful test, like a case file with half the details redacted and we would’ve needed to get the rest.”

“I don’t know. Maybe the sample’s not even hers. It could be someone else’s and she’s covering for them,” McGee offered.

“Or…” Abby began and narrowed her eyes pensively. “… Maybe she is isn’t expecting the result to be pregnancy but thinks she was drugged. She knew that we worked the Manning case which had that tainted PCP.”

McGee shrugged. “I don’t know what she’s waiting for. I drove by the same intersections twice at the same time of night for the last two days and she hasn’t called. I even switched back to my iPhone last night so she would track me and know I was there.”

“Back to your old Nokia again?” she asked with a smirk.

“Switched it back this morning. It doesn’t have a GPS chip or have location functions like the iPhone, so even if it’s being tracked it will only be down to the radius of the nearest cell tower. I got a laptop out of supply, too, so I can do my digging at home without a virus running loose on my network,” he stated confidently, but then his mouth pursed with the taste of a painful memory. “I do miss some of the pictures, though.”

“It’s not the pictures,” Abby noted observantly. “It’s who was in them. I guess I don’t have to ask how you’re doing?”

McGee sighed frustratedly, leaned back against the workstation, and rubbed his face with his hands. “Ugh. I think Tony and Ziva have gotten the hint to stop asking me that. I’m not okay, and I’m not sure when I will be. I can’t even start to get over Riley’s death while I know I’m being watched by the people who killed him. I don’t know how you’ve gone this long looking over your shoulder.”

Abby slipped her arm around his and leaned her head on his shoulder. “It’s easier looking over my shoulder knowing one of you is behind me. I’m glad the whole team knows what’s going on. I think Gibbs knows we all need someone around us right now.”

A smile tugged at McGee’s lips and he felt a slight warmth inside. “Speaking of which, I think you’re at my place tonight. I’ll probably sleep on the chair.”

She pinched at his side. “Oh, come on. It’s not like we’ve never shared a bed before. Besides, I don’t think either of us are in THAT kind of place. The only male I want in my life right now is my sweet baby puppy, Jay.”

McGee shook his head and grinned as his phone rang. “Be careful what you wish for. When that ‘sweet baby puppy’ spreads out, he makes a king-sized bed feel like a baby crib. Mark my words, one of us is gonna wind up in the chair.” He checked his phone’s ID and flipped it open. “Yeah, Boss?”

_“We got a call,”_ Gibbs replied but with a tone more stern than usual.

Abby pressed her ear against the other side of McGee’s phone to listen in.

_“Go to the armory and get vests for the team, plus Ducky and Palmer. Tell Abby to prep extra evidence kits and bring them up. We leave in 15.”_

His eyebrows perked up with curiosity, and his glance was joined by a concerned look from Abby.

NCIS

It didn’t take McGee more than a few minutes of being driven through the degraded section of the city by Gibbs to understand his alarmed tone. It wasn’t the barred storefronts or the dingy look to the streets that set McGee on edge, it was the glares they received from rough-looking characters that appeared to be sizing up the agents as meals. It wasn’t their first case in the sprawl, and undoubtedly wouldn’t be their last, but as they to the taped-off street of their crime scene they could tell they weren’t the only people armed. Tony and Ziva parked behind them in the NCIS Crime Scene Van, followed by Ducky and Palmer in the coroner’s van.

The street and the attached buildings were blocked off with police tape and multiple police cars. It took a moment of shuffling around the police cars to let both of their vehicles through; but based on the crime scene and the surrounding area, McGee was grateful for the extra security. Bodies littered the loading dock of the building in the middle of the block, as well as a body on the other side of the street. A black SUV was parked by the dock with its rear door open. Detective Morris from Metro Police was already at the scene waiting for them as they exited their vehicles. McGee remembered him from their case at One Club, the night he met Riley.

“Agent Gibbs,” Morris called. “Guess I should get used to sharing cases with you?”

“Let’s hope not,” Gibbs replied, squinting as the morning sun came over the buildings. “What do we got?”

“Not the worst scene I’ve seen, but definitely not the easiest,” Morris began and led them under the tape through the dock. “Looks like someone crashed a deal with the Ridgebacks Motorcycle Club. A call to 9-1-1 was made from this area, and the first thing the operator heard was a single gunshot. When the cops found the place, they were expecting only one body instead of eight. Everyone’s where we found them, but we did check for IDs, which is how we found your guy. This way,” he gestured for them to follow.

As they walked through the dock, McGee had an uneasy feeling that he was being watched. He looked around and saw several men who looked like they could be bikers watching angrily from behind the police barricades. They walked to the right side of the loading dock where four of the bodies were laying together in a circle near a dumpster. Each of the bodies had the right sleeve pulled up and their right arms laying by each other in the center of the circle. One of the bodies had a cell phone wrapped in an evidence bag and a .45 caliber shell casing with an evidence tag laying by the victim’s head. Morris gestured down to the closer of the bodies, which had two entry wounds on his chest. Ducky began a basic examination while Morris continued.

“Your man, Corporal Jack Halstead. He was still wearing his tags and had his ID in his wallet. Based on clothing, position and lack of Ridgeback tattoos, this guy and the one on the far end look like they were guards for that guy,” Morris pointed towards the body to Halsted’s left with the close gunshot wound to the head. “We think his street name is-”

“Marquez,” Gibbs completed, casting a look aside to McGee. “We’ve run into him before.”

McGee shut his eyes in attempt to shut out the memory of dangling from a warehouse catwalk, then opened them to look back at the body. Blood covered the tattoos on the man’s gaunt, shaved head. The bagged cell phone lay on the ground next to his head with its screen dark. McGee wondered if OMNI tracked Marquez and tracked him as punishment for the warehouse raid.

Gibbs glanced briefly at McGee, but then turned back to Morris. “We busted his warehouse a month ago, but I guess he’s making a comeback. Think this was a coke deal?”

“Only thing we can think of,” Morris shrugged. “The Ridgebacks only get violent about territory, but otherwise they run underground clubs for the grunge crowd. This one here,” he pointed towards one of the bikers in a denim cutoff vest, “his name is Cross, the Ridgeback MC’s President. We checked the SUV over there and there was nothing in it, so whoever killed these guys also made off with the drugs and whatever money the Ridgebacks had.”

Ducky checked his liver probe then looked back up to Gibbs. “I’d put time of death at between 4 and 5 A.M.”

Morris nodded and added, “Corresponds with the 9-1-1 call at 4:13.”

“And note the position of the bodies, Jethro,” Ducky continued. “I doubt the call was made by one of the victims.”

Tony grimaced. “Someone wanted the bodies to be found.” He sighed, all of them knowing it was going to be a very long day.

“It gets better,” Morris quipped with obvious sarcasm and a complete lack of envy. “Killing a Club President and robbing them puts quite a price on your head. You probably noticed some of the guys watching. I’m sure they’ll be looking into this themselves, too.”

McGee’s strained hard to _not_ look over his shoulder at them.

Morris continued, “We canvassed while we were waiting for you, and witnesses nearby heard six or seven gunshots. We found the one shell by Marquez, one by the roof guard, and five shell casings around just those two over there,” he pointed towards the two guards on the left side of the dock. “Six men in the dock, one watching the streets from the alley, and one watching over everything from the roof. If there were only six shots, not including Marquez’s headshot, and all of them from two guards, then that means this all went down very fast.”

“Which means suppressors, multiple shooters, probably pre-meditated,” Gibbs completed.

“Which goes against wanting the police to find the scene,” Morris added.

“Or they just needed time before the police got here,” Tony noted. “Have you found the shooters’ positions?”

Morris shook his head. “Not yet, there hasn’t been time. So far we’ve gotten photos of the bodies and the brass. I wasn’t even sure you’d want the case with this much work and only one marine.”

Gibbs looked around and saw the empty parking garage across the street and the building next to it separated by an alley. “DiNozzo, David, check the garage and alley for possible shooter positions. McGee, photos and sketches of all positions of the scene.” He turned to Morris, “Send us anything you have on Marquez.”

“Not sure how up-to-date it will be if you’ve already seen him in the last month, but I’ll make sure you get it,” Morris replied.

The agents disbursed to perform their tasks. Ducky nodded to Palmer to get gurneys from the coroner’s van. Tony and Ziva began walking through the alley around the garage while McGee started his photographs of the bodies around the loading dock. Gibbs stepped forward and kneeled next to Ducky.

Ducky squinted down at the four bodies in front of them. He lowered his voice so only Gibbs could hear him. “What else do you notice about these men?”

Gibbs scanned them and compared. “Right arms exposed, palms and wrists facing up.” He looked down at Corporal Halsted’s belt and saw a small flashlight clipped to it. He unclipped it and studied it for a moment.

“You don’t think…” Ducky began to ask.

Gibbs pointed the flashlight at the ground and clicked it on. A violet light projected on the ground dimly against the sunlight. The looked at each other gravely. Ducky reached for one of the arms, but Gibbs cut him off.

“Not here. Check them in the van where it’s private and darker. I want these four to be your priority.” He put back the flashlight and stood to leave, but Ducky put a hand on his arm.

“I’m sure I don’t have to ask, but you’re not making a habit of finding people with a certain kind of tattoo, are you?”

Gibbs looked sternly at him as he grew to understand the real question. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t do this. It’s a massacre. It wouldn’t do anything to help Abby.”

Ducky raised an eyebrow. “If helping Abby was the point, I’d agree. But not revenge for someone you-”

“Don’t,” Gibbs growled. “It wasn’t me. I need you to be focused on the case in front of us, not my motives.”

Ducky watched worriedly as Gibbs stormed off to the NCIS van. He looked around the dock and back down at the four bodies, heaved a concerned sigh. “I hope I have enough room in Autopsy for eight…”

NCIS

Tony and Ziva walked slowly down the alley across the street from the dock. Tony scanned the outside of the garage while Ziva checked the building across from it. The garage was five levels including the roof, lined with half-walls so each level was partly exposed. The building next to it was a plain-looking L-shaped building that bent around the garage. The walls were coated chipped white paint and had a few boarded windows with bars over them.

“Got something,” Tony called. He pointed at the brick half-wall of the garage’s 3rd level near the back corner. “Bullet holes.”

Ziva walked over and looked up with him. “Looks like about four of them, not very close together but from that distance it’s no surprise.” She walked around the corner to examine the high walls of the section of the building around the garage. “Found another,” she called while taking a picture of the distant bullet hole.

“That makes five shots plus the roof guard’s, wherever that went, then the seventh as the close-range headshot.”

Tony turned around and started examining the ground. The asphalt was old and poorly maintained. Parts of it were cracked and crumbling as they walked by.

“No shell casings,” Tony noted.

Ziva pursed her lips. “Experienced if not professional to be policing their brass.”

They walked around the corner to face the dock again where Ziva paused.

“We may have a partial footprint,” she noted curiously as she crouched down to the ground.

She focused her camera where the asphalt met the side of the garage. A section of asphalt had disintegrated into gravel and looked like an impression had been made by a boot. She took pictures and placed an evidence marker.

“Got nothing going out this way,” Tony called, closely examining the ground. “Think that could be one of the shooters’ positions?”

She looked at him but didn’t seem convinced. “Maybe. It’s fairly close to where that guard was, though,” she pointed at the covered body in front of the alley.

They finished their search of the alley, then made their way up to the 3rd floor of the garage. The garage didn’t appear to be monitored by any cameras or have any protective measures other than a half-threatening sign with the name of a towing company for unauthorized cars. Like the surrounding buildings, the garage seemed dilapidated. The numbers painted on the ground for the individual spots were half-faded, and a smell of stale urine lingered in the air. Tony tried holding his breath as they went up the stairs to the 3rd floor. He took pictures of the bullet holes in the brick and concrete while Ziva checked for other evidence. There weren’t many parked cars in that garage, but she looked under just to be safe. Against the wall she found a single brass shell casing on the ground and picked it up with a pair of tweezers, but as she looked out from the position she frowned.

“Tony, looks like they missed one.”

“Just one?”

“Yes,” she held up the brass. “5.56mm, looks like it came from an assault rifle rather than a standard bolt-action sniper.”

“That would explain why everyone was killed so fast,” he noted, looking down at the bodies below.

“Still, could someone get that kind of accuracy from up here? Come here. Stand like this.” She positioned him facing the crime scene. “What do you see?”

Tony down towards the scene. “I see the dock.”

“Right, but look. Even over here,” she leaned slightly over the half-wall, “I can’t quite see the two bodies on the right because of that corner wall, and…” she tried to balance herself on the wall with an invisible sniper rifle in her arms.

Seeing her inching too close to the edge, Tony quickly grabbed one of her arms to stabilize her.

She nodded gratefully. “Thanks. But see what I mean? This is too awkward of an angle for a sniper to have gotten everyone from here.”

“Right, there would’ve been multiple shooters.”

“They would’ve had to be…” she looked around at the building around the garage and found a few possible locations. She then started looking down at the position of the bullet holes on the wall and her face scrunched as she calculated.

Tony cocked his head to the side. “What are you thinking, Ziva?”

She looked over the edge of the wall, then came back with the look of an idea. “What if we’re looking in the wrong place? What if the shooter wasn’t in the garage, but hanging outside it? That would get them around the columns and the walls and give them a much wider angle.”

“‘Shooter?’ Like _one_ shooter?” Tony asked incredulously. “No offense, Ziva, but I’m not even sure _you_ could pull this one off solo.”

She frowned as she looked up at the bullet holes. “Look at the grouping of the shots, Tony. The bikers down there were shooting at one spot up here and no one on the ground.”

“Let’s check upstairs for any gear or marks,” he suggested. “That’ll tell us more.”

“Speaking of gear,” Ziva began as they walked. “Did Abby leave anything at your place last night?”

Tony chuckled. “Two CD’s and a pair of boots. How’d you know?”

Ziva smiled. “Just guessing. She left a pair of pajama pants and a pillow at my apartment when she stayed. The way she left them, I’m sure it was on purpose. I think she wants something familiar to go back to.”

Tony grunted. “I can’t believe Shepard did that. Abby was almost killed, and we have no idea when this will be over. How long do you think Abby will be okay bouncing around between houses? It’s like she’s in the middle of a four-way custody battle that I guarantee will last longer than the next two weeks.”

“She’s tougher than you think,” Ziva smirked. “She camped out in the woods for two nights on the run with an OMNI assassin chasing her. I think she can handle a month or two of sleeping on couches.”

When they reached the wall of the 4th level, they found an empty parking space at the far corner of the lot near where the shell casing was found below. As they examined the area closer, Ziva found a long white mark where the top of concrete half-wall had been rubbed by something in a straight line over to the outside.

“Tony, this is it,” she called to him before taking a few pictures of the evidence. “One of the shooters must’ve used some kind of climbing rope tied it to a car or truck to hold their weight, then hung over the side of the garage to get the view of the whole scene.” Ziva looked across to the building next to them and around the alley. “No lights that I can see, so they would’ve been nearly invisible. Only one set of rope tracks means one shooter outside.”

Tony looked closer at the marks on the concrete and in the powder could just barely make out a footprint. He quickly snapped a few pictures with a one-to-one scale, then looked around the rest of the garage. His eyes rested on the corner wall closest to the dock. “One could’ve been up here taking out the left side while the other hanging over the wall got the rest. Plus, multiple hands would make picking up casings and robbing the meetup much easier. The one casing we found must’ve bounced off of something like the outside shooter’s shoe or leg and dropped into the 3rd floor.”

Ziva nodded as they started walking down the garage. “And if it was pre-meditated as Gibbs said, then it’s more likely they had help. The muzzle flashes being close together may have given the appearance of one sniper. The only other thing would be the accuracy of the rifles. You would need to modify them to get that kind of range with precision, and have the right people using them.”

Tony squinted at the ground as they approached the corner leading down to the 2nd floor. “And the right people driving, the kind that don’t leave tracks,” he added smartly as he zoomed in on a tire skid mark from a vehicle rounding the garage corner too fast. “Guess they didn’t pre-meditate enough.”

NCIS

Gibbs huffed tensely as he began cataloguing the SUV. Usually, vehicles that were part of crime scenes were examined at the Evidence Garage, but after Ducky all but accusing him of murder and with the other agents working the rest of the scene, the SUV was his best chance to be alone. He pondered over the last few days while he took fiber samples from the seats. He knew he crossed the line once before to kill his late wife’s killer, and nearly crossed it again by putting a gun to the Director’s chest. But Ducky should’ve known better than to think he’d kill eight people over Riley’s death. As far as he thought Ducky knew, Riley was just a good agent to Gibbs. He wouldn’t have been upset if Ducky suspected his true feelings for Riley. Ducky noticed everything. And if Abby knew, then it wasn’t a far stretch for Ducky to know, too. The problem was having it used against him. He snapped himself out of his thoughts when he realized he had used 5 sets of adhesive tape to get fibers from the same spot over and over again.

He moved to the rear of the SUV and the open rear door. He first noticed a burlap cover bunched up to the left and two parallel lines of paint scraped off the top of the bumper, likely by something big being loaded in or out of the back. He first took swaps to check for blood, but when nothing appeared he continued collecting samples.

Gibbs had seen the other day that Ducky seemed shaken by the sudden appearance of a body. He wondered if his tired or angered state that morning might’ve scared Ducky, or if going from the idea of arresting Shepard to suddenly working with her might’ve confused the man. Part of him wondered if Shepard asked Ducky to keep an eye on him after he put a gun to her chest, though Ducky wouldn’t try to upset Gibbs at a crime scene. He decided to try to push it from his mind so he could focus. He and Ducky could make up later as they usually did, but the crime scene at hand needed his attention.

In the carpeting he noticed a small splinter of wood, likely from a wooden crate. He took a close-up photo and then collected it with tweezers. When he pulled at the burlap cover to bundle it into an evidence bag, he found a small instant film photograph hidden underneath. He raised an eyebrow as he took a picture of it and took a closer look. The photograph showed an open wooden crate filled with various weapons in the back of the same SUV with the burlap cover tossed to the side. With the number of guns and explosives he saw just on the top layer of the crate, he was sure that it was a weapons deal and not drugs as Morris believed.

He looked closer at the photo to see if he could find anyone or any signs of when the photo was taken, but the flash had blackened out the windows and the digital clock on the radio was too far away and out of focus. He turned the photo over and his eyes widened when he saw OMNI’s standby symbol drawn in black marker on the back. Thoughts raced through his mind as he stared at it and out to the rest of the scene. He didn’t even register McGee walking up to him.

“Boss,” McGee called to him even though Gibbs wasn’t listening, “I’ve examined all the bullet wounds and tracked the final positions of the bullet holes. Whoever the shooters are, they didn’t miss a single shot. I’ve got all the bullets that were through-and-throughs, but Ducky will need to get the rest out in Autopsy. Tony and Ziva are casting molds of the shoe prints they found now.” He waited for a response. “Boss?”

Gibbs broke out of his trance and looked at McGee, then back down to the symbol on the back of the photo. “Did Riley ever tell you about OMNI leaving anything behind? Any kind of calling card or signature with their victims?”

McGee thought back across their few conversations about OMNI. “No, not with their victims. He only talked about software having a signature in it, but anything outside of that was just the UV tattoos. Otherwise, they keep hidden. Why?”

Gibbs showed McGee the back of the photo and handed it to him before turning to examine the rest of the cargo area. McGee’s heart raced when he saw the OMNI symbol coupled with a large stockpile of weapons. He quickly looked up and around to make sure none of the observers on the other side of the police tape had seen the photograph in his hands.

“Gibbs, this… none of this makes sense. If this weapons deal had OMNI agents on both sides, why would OMNI attack them?”

Gibbs looked back at him with an unsure frown. “I don’t think they did.”

McGee’s eyes widened and his mouth hung open. In a whisper he asked, “The Originals? They’re fighting back?”

Gibbs shrugged and nodded to the photo. “Don’t know, but whoever it is certainly isn’t on OMNI’s side. Take all the evidence we’ve gotten so far and escort Ducky and Palmer back. Get Abby processing the photo and DNA first.”

“On it, Boss!” McGee called, breaking into a sprint and biting his lip to avoid grinning.

NCIS

Gibbs paused on the last step before rounding the corner to the morgue. He wasn’t sure if Ducky had enough time to process all eight bodies yet, and while interrupting was never an issue, after their earlier exchange he didn’t want to speak to Ducky unless he had to. After spending hours collecting evidence from the shootout, the rest of the team was occupied researching Halsted and Marquez while Abby was up to her neck in evidence processing. Knowing he needed to see Ducky at some point, Gibbs decided to make it sooner rather than later. He stepped forward and let the morgue doors slide open.

“Your stitchwork is getting better, Mr. Palmer,” Ducky complimented as they stood over a body.

“Thanks, Ducky,” Palmer grinned before looking up. “Hi Gibbs, we’re just finishing up number seven.”

Ducky reluctantly turned around. “Ah, yes, we have some analyses for you, Jethro. Jimmy, would you mind getting me some tea?”

Palmer removed his gloves and wiped his brow with a satisfied sigh. “Sure thing. I could use a break.”

Gibbs waited until Palmer had left before asking, “What do you got?”

“An apology,” Ducky admitted. “I’m sorry I accused you. I should never have suspected that you’d do this. This was murder, not defense.”

Gibbs half-smiled and nodded it away. “I didn’t exactly make it easy. I came close to crossing that line, but it’s not what either of them would’ve wanted.” Gibbs wanted to smile at how easy it was to communicate a lot to Ducky with only a few vague terms.

Ducky nodded understandingly and patted Gibbs’ shoulder supportively before gesturing to one of the three bodies on the Autopsy tables. “I wanted you to see something.”

He switched on the overhead light illuminating the body, showing a completed Y-incision that had been sown up. The victim’s deathly pallor undermined the muscular build, squared jaw, and tousled brown hair of the victim that all had been made to tout his appearance. Gibbs squinted at first to adjust to the reflection of the light.

“Our marine, Corporal Halsted, was one of four of our victims to have the same pattern in their wounds,” Ducky began and pointed to the wound on the chest and forehead. “Both shots were lethal, through the heart and through the brain. Yet across four bodies are barely under an inch in variance across each of the four victims – Halsted, the motorcycle club leader Cross, the man to his left, and the man on the roof. However,” he turned to the middle table to the body who was on its side, “the young man guarding the alley had two shots through his chest and abdomen, the same distance apart as the others. Based on the position of his body, I think he lunged forward as the two shots were fired, otherwise he would’ve been struck through the head and heart like the others. The two that had fired their weapons had only shots through their foreheads as well, but,” he turned back to Halsted’s body and pointed to the head wound an inch above and to the right of the forehead’s center, “through the same spot. Jethro, this type of consistency is astounding.”

Gibbs nodded. “Our shooters have military sniper training, then.”

“And were likely trained together in order to have the same pattern,” Ducky added. “The only deviant from this pattern is our old friend, Mr. Marquez.” He waved Gibbs over to the third table where the thin, gaunt man they’d hunted once before now lay dead with shots in his chest and head. “I pulled the same type of bullet from his chest as the others, a 5.56. Though unlike the others, this one hit three inches to the right of his heart. If treated soon enough, it wouldn’t have been fatal. The fatal shot to the head was then made with a .45 caliber pistol and only _after_ he had been dragged into position with the other bodies. Now the question is – why the discrepancy?”

“Information,” Gibbs answered. “The OMNI agents we’ve run across usually carried a flash drive. If Marquez was dealing weapons to the Ridgebacks, he was probably giving them instructions for who to use them on. We didn’t find one on his body, so the shooters must’ve taken it before killing him. Then they executed him as part of the message to OMNI.”

Ducky nodded in agreement and walked over to the desk table where four dark photos showed glowing UV tattoos, each with different numbers. “I keep thinking of the old proverb, _‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’_ I stand by what I said: this was murder, not defense. Even if these Originals who killed these men are our friends, it’ll be very difficult to defend what they’ve done here.”

Gibbs raised his eyebrows undecidedly. “We don’t know everything yet, but it won’t be my job to defend OMNI or the Originals. The only ones I’m defending are my team. That includes you.”

Ducky smiled warmly as Gibbs turned and walked back upstairs.


	26. Chapter 25

NCIS

“Corporal Jack Halsted,” Tony began, bringing Halsted’s profile up on the main screen of the bullpen as the others stood to his left. “32 years old, rents an apartment in Falls Church, currently on Inactive Ready Reserve for 13 months following a 2-year tour in Afghanistan. Employed as a security guard at the Chronology Data Center in Manassas.”

Gibbs stared up at the license of the square-jawed, brown-haired man looking tough on his DMV picture. “Financials?”

McGee used his remote and brought up two bank statements. “Nothing irregular for the past few months, no large deposits or withdrawals other than his monthly rent checks. No other accounts in his name.” He clicked onto another screen. “He had two phones on him, one looks personal and the other looks like a prepaid he put under the name ‘0552 LTD.’” He passed the remote to Ziva and walked back to his computer.

Ziva brought an image onto the screen of a wrist with a glowing UV tattoo of the OMNI symbol next to the designation ‘0552.’ “The same numbers on his wrist, according to Ducky. His number was higher than the others, which to our knowledge means that he was newer than the other three OMNI agents at the meet. Marquez, whose real name is actually Dustin Marcus, was 0221. Cross and the other were in the 3-400’s.”

“Halsted’s OMNI phone shows calls from Marquez regularly for the last three weeks,” McGee continued, “then yesterday a call received at 5:16 PM, and then the last call was _to_ Marquez at 3 AM. His personal phone has no calls to or from any OMNI number we’ve collected, though it looks like his work called twice after 9 AM, probably wondering why he didn’t show up.”

“What about the SUV?” Gibbs asked.

“2002 Chevy Suburban,” Tony replied. “Owned by a shell company set up in 2004 by Marquez, purchased three years ago from an impound auction. No reports of being stolen or even a lapse in registration since.”

McGee listened while tapping through Halsted’s DMV record. He pulled up a recent registration of a vehicle and froze when he read the description:

**Vehicle Make** : Chevrolet

 **Model** : Camaro

 **Body** : 2D CPE

 **Year** : 2007

 **Color** : Yellow

His brain replayed a memory of running with Riley almost two months ago, feeling out of breath and resting by a new-looking yellow Camaro, one that reminded him of when he was 16 and crashed his own. He remembered again seeing the Camaro again later that day.

_FLASHBACK_

_A loud engine roar disrupted McGee’s thought, and the agents looked up to see a yellow Camaro having just passed them and heading up the street._

_Tony frowned. “What do you think’s on the memory card?”_

_McGee didn’t answer, eyes still fixed up the road where the car was now out of sight._

_“McGee?” Gibbs asked before looking in the same direction._

_He blinked, unsure how to answer. “Not sure, Boss. Not to be paranoid but I think I’ve seen that car already today.”_

_Gibbs started the car and looked around. “Where?”_

_“Earlier when I was out running. I don’t know for sure but-”_

_“Your gut,” Gibbs huffed._

_Gibbs pulled the car out onto the street, zooming up to the intersection where the Camaro turned. After checking multiple intersections and streets around where they were, there was no sign of the car._

_FLASHBACK_

He remembered being followed by a yellow Camaro, and the OMNI connection had to be more than coincidence. He tapped through the financial records then interrupted Tony beginning to talk about the shoeprints they found at the crime scene. “Hey Boss, I found something. Do you remember a few months ago on the Manning case, we were being followed by a yellow Camaro? Look.” He put the registration on the screen.

Tony studied it but looked suspicious. “I don’t know, McGee. Ever since the first _Transformers_ trailer came out, everyone’s been buying yellow Camaros. How can we be sure?”

“He didn’t pay for it with his bank account, Tony,” McGee countered and brought up a bank statement. “No large purchase around the date of registration, and no car payments made. And we know for certain he’s an OMNI agent, which means he’ll either have cash at his place or a separate bank account.”

Ziva hummed curiously. “He could have been ordered to follow us and moved up to guarding Marquez after the warehouse raid.”

“Too much of a coincidence,” Gibbs agreed. “DiNozzo, McGee, go to Halsted’s work and talk to his coworkers, then go to the dealership where he bought the car and pick up a money trail. Keep your eyes open, and only use broad terms for the investigation. If anyone asks, this was a drive-by in a bad neighborhood. We don’t want to scare any other OMNI operatives. Ziva, you’re with me.”

McGee anxiously geared up, wondering if this lead would bring him face-to-face with Riley’s killer.

NCIS

Abby chewed her lip as her eyes were laser-focused on her screen. She didn’t bother hiding her smile as she completed her work, for once feeling confident about digging deeper into an OMNI case and handling it without any concerns of her own history. She triple-checked her evidence was organizing it when her ears perked at the sound of footsteps. She turned with a grin and her hands folded excitedly in front of her as the door opened for Gibbs and Ziva.

Gibbs noticed and a smile crept up his lips as well. “You look like you have something for me.” He revealed a large ‘ _Caf-POW!’_ from behind his back and offered it to her.

“Oh,” she sighed excitedly and extended her arms to convey her enthusiasm before swiping up the drink. “I have way more than _something_ for you. This is insane, and like a weird insane because it’s dangerous but an awesome insane because-” she paused when she noticed Gibbs’ “Get On With It” stare, then reigned herself in. “Check this out.”

She tapped a few keys and a 3D wireframe model rendered with the loading dock on one side and the garage, empty building, and alley on the other. Eight light green figures loaded in with six inside the dock, one on the roof, and the other in front of the alley. As she spoke, small red circles appeared on the green figures and in various places on the dock walls and ground.

“Alright, the photo and the brass found at the garage didn’t have any fingerprints on it, so I couldn’t get an ID on the perps. But by using all of the evidence from the scene, like the bullet holes, position of the bodies, and the entry angles for the wounds, I was able to construct a 3D model of the whole scene, including the position of…”

She clicked the mouse. Thin red lines began drawing themselves straight from the bullet holes towards the outside wall of the 3rd floor of the garage until they intersected at a single point. A green figure then appeared laying horizontally outside the wall where the red lines met.

“… the _ONLY_ shooter. I checked the striations on each of the rounds, and they all matched.” She turned to Gibbs. “Gibbs, we’re dealing with a sniper who can take out eight moving targets in anywhere from ten to twelve seconds. _That_ is insane.”

Gibbs slowly walked towards the big screen, his mouth just barely drifting open as he calculated the scene in his mind like he was behind the scope. Abby watched as Gibbs pointed to each person, tapping the air with each round that was fired, going from person-to-person, like he was determining the order in which they were shot.

Ziva stood next to him and started doing the same thing in her mind. She tilted her head to the side. “With the right rifle, I think it’s actually possible.”

After a minute he sighed and turned around.

“What about the rifle?” he asked quickly with an unusual tone of impatience. “What kind was it?”

She brought up a picture of one of the bullets and zoomed into the rifling marks. A meter came of that measured the distance between two of the marks. She took a breath before continuing with a smile.

“I think I’ve narrowed it down,” Abby excitedly replied. “This round went through a barrel with a 1:8 twist instead of the more common 1:7 twist. Since this marksman was obviously experienced and likely military-trained, it makes sense that the gun was modified for its range and accuracy. I checked the rifling pattern and confirmed that the barrel that fired this bullet is a 20-inch Heavy Barrel created by Colt Manufacturing specifically for the M4 Carbine, the current favorite of pretty much every U.S. Agency.” She pulled up a picture of the rifle. “I also checked the footprints that Tony and Ziva found and they belong to a size 9 ½ Oakley Lite Tactical boot – also a current favorite of most federal Tactical Operations teams, especially SWAT. I think this was an internal op!”

Gibbs stood still, eyes stuck on the picture of the rifle and the 3D rendered model in the background.

“Gibbs?” Abby repeated, though her excitement dwindled into desperation. “Come on Gibbs, this is good news! This means that other agencies are hunting down OMNI. We’re fighting back! This means this might actually be over soon!”

He turned around slowly and walked to her, unsure how to delicately but clearly state his thoughts. “If it were another agency, they would’ve busted the deal and arrested everyone there instead of killing them all and stealing the weapons shipment. The M4 is also commonly available for civilians. This means that someone’s going around killing people, and they’re very good at it. They even left a message for OMNI to let them know what they stole. This isn’t good news, Abby. It is not about to be over until we catch them.”

She shook her head and her eyes started to water. “Please, tell me this is good. It has to be. I don’t want to be scared of even leaving my lab anymore.”

Gibbs took her into his arms and lightly kissed her cheek. “The good news is that we’re onto something. Don’t be scared, we’re all looking after you.”

She nodded into his chest.

He kissed her once more lightly on the cheek then pulled back. “You did good. We’ll be back, okay?”

Abby sniffed and folded her arms, then nodded. Gibbs looked over at Ziva, then they both exited the lab. Abby looked at the four walls of her lab before heaving a depressed sigh and taking a sip of the ‘ _Caf-POW!_.’

NCIS

McGee happily enjoyed the empty bliss of a 45-minute car ride out to Manassas. The morning had been packed with a massive crime scene made exponentially more stressful by the involvement of OMNI and all the possibilities that came with them. McGee could tell that Tony was exhausted as well by the fact that he wasn’t as chatty as he would’ve been. They both reveled in that brief period where they were working, but at the same time were not. McGee determined during the first ten minutes of the car ride that they likely weren’t about to be in an armed confrontation just by asking about Halsted, rather that OMNI would simply cut him off and put up a wall around his mistakes. His gut told him to be at the ready, but not because of danger. He also realized that Gibbs only sent him and Tony, meaning he trusted that they wouldn’t be in much danger. He smiled a bit as he found his gut trusting Gibbs’ judgement again.

The stretch of road became emptier and emptier the further they traveled, but rounding a corner they finally saw a long concrete structure that looked like a shipping warehouse, though it had an ornate, three-story glass front that looked like it was lifted off a skyscraper. McGee didn’t have to look hard to find the blaringly obvious yellow Camaro parked near the back of the lot.

“There it is,” he breathed, taking note of the license plate and confirming it as Halsted’s. He didn’t remember the license plate from when he’d seen this car before, but he was sure it was the same one.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “It’s here. That means that someone picked him up last night from this lot.”

McGee turned grimly to him. “That could be circumstantial, or it could be really bad.”

“Like the Boss said,” Tony offered, “keep our eyes open.”

They entered through the glass double doors into a glossy white-and-stainless steel lobby. A brown-haired woman with an angular face, rosy cheeks, and wire-rimmed glasses greeted them with a perky smile from behind a frosted glass desk at the front. She wore a frilly white blouse with a tight black pencil skirt and heels. On either side of the lobby were glass doors leading to hallways, back but only the door on the right side of the desk was guarded by a man in a security uniform. Each corner of the lobby had a security camera.

The receptionist stood up and brightly began, “Hello, and welcome to Chronology. My name is Alyssa. How can I help you?”

They each took out their badges, but Tony spoke first with his boyish smirk. “I’m Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, this is Special Agent McGee, we’re with NCIS.”

Her smile dropped to a look of shock with her jaw loosened and her eyes staring. Her eyes moved directly up to McGee’s, studying his face, briefly glancing down to read his ID, then back to his face. McGee noticed and returned her stunned look with a curious one of his own.

She remembered herself and looked up at Tony as well, then forced her smile back on and clicked a few keys on her computer. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone from your agency. I don’t show any appointments with NCIS. Would you like to speak with our sales staff for a tour of the facility?”

Tony matched her fake smile with one of his own. “No, thank you. We’re here about one of your staff, Jack Halsted.”

“Oh, I see,” she replied with a note of annoyance. “Well, he’d normally be over there, but he didn’t show up for work.” She raised her right hand to gesture to their left where the door stood without a guard.

Tony shot a brief glance at McGee after their eyes landed on the same thing – a strange pattern in the reflection of her right wrist as she gestured from behind the desk. Both men also noted a thick watchband on the security guard’s right wrist. McGee raised an eyebrow to Tony, who replied with a silent but serious look before turning back to Alyssa.

“That’s why we’re here,” Tony explained. “Mr. Halsted was found dead this morning.”

“Oh, wow…” she paused and looked pensive for a moment. “Wow, that’s… that’s awful.”

McGee studied her reaction for a moment. “Did you know him well?”

She shrugged. “Not well, but the guards and I chat a little bit here and there when on duty. It can get kinda boring just standing there,” she looked over to the guard on her left who nodded back in agreement. “I wasn’t that interested in digging into his personal life.”

“Why is that?” Tony asked, detecting a tone of disdain in her voice.

She grimaced, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He always looked at me strangely, kinda the way you’re looking at me now. It was like he was checking me out to see if I was telling the truth or gauging my reactions, investigating instead of just having casual conversation. Anyway, you should probably speak with the director. She’ll want to know. One moment, please,” she replied softly and pushed a few buttons on her desk phone.

The speaker came on as the phone rang. It rang four more times before finally being answered.

_“What?”_ a woman’s brusque, annoyed voice came through.

Alyssa smiled tensely. “Ms. Vianne, I have two NCIS Agents here to see you.”

_“N-C-I-S? They’re not on my calendar and they’re not clients. Send them to sales. I’m going back to sleep.”_

The receptionist rolled her eyes. “They’re here about Halsted. I checked their badges, they’re legitimate.”

There was a moment of silence before the speaker came back on. _“What, he went AWOL on them too? Fine, whatever, send them in and make it fast.”_

Tony gave Alyssa an amused look.

She smiled nervously. “Ms. Vianne’s in a bit of a mood today, but I’m sure she’ll provide you with whatever information we have. Please, follow me,” she gestured to the door by the guard.

Alyssa swiped an access card over the door sensor, which chimed and allowed them through. As they walked through the door, they rounded a corner to a long hallway that seemed to stretch the length of the facility. McGee noticed at least two guards patrolling the hallway before Alyssa led them the rest of the way around the corner to an elevator and stairway. A security guard stood by the elevator with his hands crossed in front of him, armed with two holstered .45 caliber pistols and a submachine gun. Tony struggled to refrain from commenting. Alyssa swiped her access card again at the elevator’s sensor, which opened the doors. They filed inside and she pressed the button to the third floor, then stepped back out while holding the door open.

“This will take you straight into her office. When you’re ready to come back down, Roy here will escort you back to the lobby,” she explained in her customer-service voice. “I’m Ms. Vianne’s assistant as well as receptionist, so if you need anything on the way out just let me know.”

Tony quickly turned on his charm. “I’m sure we will.”

Her smile shortened to an unimpressed smirk, and she walked away letting the elevator door close behind her.

Tony scoffed at the passive rejection. “Well! I guess she only has eyes for _McGeeks_.”

McGee rolled his eyes while the elevator started. “Really, Tony?”

“She was sizing you up the moment she saw your badge!” he argued. “Hey, we need every advantage here. They had two guards covering about 20 square feet between that second door and the elevator alone. What data center needs that level of overprotection?”

“We’ll find out,” McGee replied quietly as they reached the third floor.

The doors opened to a large rectangular office backed by the tall glass windows from the front of the building. The spacious office had a small meeting table, black leather couch, coffee maker, mini refrigerator, attached bathroom, and an open set of double doors leading into a larger conference room. Against the orderly appeal of the office, they noticed a coat and purse haphazardly tossed onto the table, as well as a blanket and pillows hastily thrown on the floor behind the couch.

By the windows was a large desk with two monitors, which hid a short, young woman trying to roughly wrestle her wavy yet tangled blonde hair into a ponytail. As she rounded the desk to greet them, they were surprised at her more casual appearance versus her assistant. She wore a light, low-cut, long-sleeve gray sweater and loose-fitting black suit pants, along with a pair of black sneakers. Her round Italian face was marred with tired bags under her bright blue eyes.

“Hi, Cassandra Vianne,” she greeted swiftly as she shook their hands. “Sorry about the mess. There really is never a good time to switch to decaf.”

Tony mustered a barely awkward smirk. “Special Agent Tony DiNozzo.”

“Special Agent McGee,” McGee added.

Vianne swiped up her coat and purse and hung them on a chair before gesturing the men to the table. “Yes, the Navy. I used to butt heads with you guys back in my FBI days. What can I do for you?”

The two agents sat while Tony continued, “We have some questions about one of your employees, Jack Halsted. What can you tell us about him?”

She grimaced uncomfortably, then replied, “Well, that depends, is he applying for a job or has he gotten himself in trouble?”

McGee gave Tony a curious look at the response. “He was found dead this morning, and we’d like to know more about his personal and professional life to determine the motive.”

Vianne’s jaw dropped and she held her hand to her stomach, which then drifted lower to her navel. She grew pale for a moment before looking back at them. “I… I don’t really know what to say. It’s been a while since someone around me has died, you know?”

Tony hummed understandingly. “Your assistant mentioned that she felt uncomfortable around him.”

“Well, yeah,” she shrugged. “He’s like that for a lot of people, including me. He does his rounds, but you can tell something’s just a little off about him. I know how to smell a rat, and… well, I don’t like to say this about someone who’s just died, but… he’s definitely a rat. I’m somewhat convinced he’s been stealing from us.”

Tony and McGee exchanged glances again.

“Really?” McGee asked. “Why’s that?”

Vianne relaxed her posture and leaned into the table. “Listen, I’ll be frank. I used to work FBI Cyber Crimes, and I only left because Chronology offered me better pay, a sweet office and less on-call bullshit. Part of my job is stopping data leaks from this center. I know it doesn’t look good for a place this secure, but it’s true. We’ve had fairly consistent breaches and I think they’ve had to do with Halsted.”

“You think he was stealing data?” Tony asked.

“And possibly selling it, but I don’t have proof. Guess I won’t either. We also had some hardware stolen a few months ago while it was being shipped, but I don’t know if he had anything to do with it. I’ll just have to see if the leaks stop now.”

Tony looked back at the door. “This place is pretty well guarded now that you mention it. How was he managing to steal data?”

“He is… well he _was_ a security guard. We have contracts with government agencies and banks that all demand high levels of security. Other than about four server technicians and myself, he was one of the only guards given access to the Vault, what we call our server room. Part of his rounds involved checking that everything was ok in there. There was never any issue reported by him or the other guards, and the access breaches never seemed to happen on his watch.”

McGee looked at his notepad, then asked, “Do you know what Halsted may have been up to in his time off?”

“Honestly, no. I don’t really think of him more than I have to because he usually gives me the creeps. Well… gave. He was a bit tool-ish, too – kept bragging about the tour he served in Iraq or wherever. The way he did it got really old really fast. If I were the one stealing data, I would’ve been a little more discreet.”

Tony noted a slight quiver in her voice when she corrected herself. “What about the rest your staff?”

“We run thorough background checks on all employees. I was already working here when he started about a year ago along, but I didn’t really notice him be close with anyone in particular. Alyssa would’ve had more interaction with him than I would. I’m usually up here or touring the facility with a client.”

Tony looked over at McGee, who closed his notepad and nodded. They both stood up and McGee handed her a business card.

“Thank you for your time. If you can think of anything that could help us, please give us a call.”

She stood up to see them out. “I will, thank you.”

They were escorted by the guard outside her door and handed off until they reached the lobby. As they passed the front desk, Alyssa’s eyes met McGee’s again and he could see something that almost looked like concern in her stare. He paused and pulled out a business card. She quickly pulled her face back into her “customer service” smile as he handed the card to her.

“Call me if you can think of anything else that would be helpful,” he offered.

She held her fake smile and nodded.

After they had cleared the doors, Tony looked back at the building and saw Vianne watching them leave from her office. “Which one do you think was more suspicious, the receptionist who was into you, or the director who might’ve actually liked our victim?”

“Alyssa,” McGee replied. “She wasn’t into me, she was worried when we showed her our badges before even mentioning Halsted. She knows more.”

Tony huffed in agreement as they ducked into the car. “Tell me you saw those scar lines on her wrist? I don’t think she cuts herself.”

“If it’s an OMNI tattoo, it isn’t recent,” McGee noted. “I’ll start running checks on her too when we get back.”

“We’ll be checking _all_ of them,” Tony corrected.

NCIS

The length of the day weighed heavily on McGee as 6 PM closed in. Other than the drive to and from Manassas, he and the rest of the team had been working hard for nearly eleven hours. The records from the car dealership showed that Halsted paid cash, leaving no new money trail for them to follow. Halsted’s apartment left much to be desired when Gibbs and Ziva searched it. They found very minimal cash and surprisingly no OMNI laptop or USB drives. That left only his trash and his car to go through, which Ziva was grateful to push to the next day.

McGee knew, of course, that this was only part of his work for the day. With Abby staying with him, he had planned on them both scouring the FBI’s databases for more information on OMNI or anything related to Special Agent King’s case on Riley’s death. He had also planned to make another drive to the intersections where Amber had last contacted him, so as he was getting ready to leave, he moved his SIM card from his Nokia phone back to his iPhone and started it. He waved to Tony and Ziva before taking the elevator down to Abby’s lab. Walking in he saw her sitting at her lab table with her stuffed hippo, Bert, in her arms.

“Hey Abby, ready to go?”

She grinned and squeezed Bert, generating a fart from the toy. “Yay, sleepover time! I can’t wait to see Jay again. I’ve missed him.”

McGee chuckled. “He’ll be glad for the extra attention. Do you have everything you need?”

“Yeah, let me grab-” she was cut off by McGee’s phone ringing as she stood up and rounded the table.

McGee took the phone out of his pocket, then frowned in confusion when he saw the ID read ‘Abby.’ He looked up at her. “Are you pocket-dialing me?”

She looked at his phone with surprise, then to her workstation. “No, my phone’s in my…”

She paused and ran to her small backpack, digging through and fishing out her phone. Her face darkened when she saw that her phone wasn’t in use, but McGee’s phone was still ringing. McGee saw her look and realized what was happening, and they both jumped to the workstation to open up the call trace program.

“Quick,” Abby hissed. “Answer it before she hangs up.” She typed in McGee’s number and started checking for the call.

McGee fumbled with the screen and answered the call, immediately putting it on speaker. “Hello?”

The familiar scrambled female voice came through. _“Agent McGee, it’s Amber.”_

“Yes, hello. I was waiting for your call,” he answered awkwardly.

Abby gestured at him wildly to keep the call going while the program located the call and attempted the trace.

McGee nodded. “I tested what you gave me.”

_“What did you find?”_

“The, uh… the urine sample didn’t contain any drugs or anything unusual, but…” he tried buying time by stammering as he watched the trace program, “… but it showed that whoever it came from is pregnant.”

There was a crackling on the line that sounded like air blowing, but otherwise silence. The trace program found the call routing through the internet and running in circles between locations, avoiding detection.

“Amber?” he asked tepidly.

_“Yeah, that’s right.”_ Even through the scrambler they could hear hesitation. _“Excellent work. I’m sending you an email with a picture attached. When you open the picture on your phone, it’ll deactivate the tracker and restart your phone. Don’t install any new updates or the tracker will activate again. Same with your computer, don’t let it do any kind of software updates.”_

He breathed with relief. “Okay. Now how do we find OMNI?”

_“You won’t,”_ she replied quickly and sternly.

He and Abby looked worriedly at each other. “Wait! But I thought you wanted my help to get you out.”

_“No. I’ll figure it out on my own. This is too dangerous.”_

“Wait, wait!” Tim pleaded. “Please, we can help. I just need to know who the FBI moles are.”

There was a pause. _“What are you talking about?”_

“OMNI killed my…” he paused wanting to say ‘boyfriend,’ but he didn’t know Amber and trusted her even less now. “They killed someone close to me Sunday night as part of the demonstration for the virus you’re auctioning. I just want to know who from the FBI gave him up to be killed.”

_“You know about that? You knew the target… Okay, listen, I don’t have time to find out who it was, but what I can tell you is that any OMNI agent deep enough inside the government will have their tattoo on the back of their neck, not on their wrist. Good luck.”_

The call disconnected, leaving the trace program incomplete and McGee and Abby looking bewildered. They were both startled as McGee’s phone chimed with a new email showing no sender or subject, but with an attachment. When they opened it, an image of a shield with the OMNI standby symbol in the center briefly appeared. Suddenly McGee’s phone flashed its screen and cut to black where command lines quickly wrote themselves and executed. The phone shut down, then the Apple symbol came back as it booted back up. As it slowly loaded the applications, McGee tapped around on the phone to see if anything was different. After not seeing anything, he opened his email back up and found that the email he received was missing. The two exchanged silent glances before both bolting for the lab door.

NCIS

Special Agent Evelyn Hall raced from her house to the parking lot of her private office. Her tires screeched as she took a corner to quickly and she grunted as her Mercedes jolted itself over the lot’s speedbumps. DC had texted her OMNI phone requesting an emergency meeting, and though they had already met in-person, Hall wanted to keep their dealings as guarded as possible. She strode past the security guard with barely a polite smile and rushed up the stairs.

The inner door to her office slammed and locked behind her as she whipped her coat off and pulled the laptop out of the large server rack in the center of the small, square room. She caught her breath as the laptop booted up, illuminating the dark room with the bright white OMNI startup screen. Hall began the encryption and voice scrambler programs, then tapped on DC’s icon.

_“There you are,”_ DC began crossly.

Hall noticed the tone and urgently asked, “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

_“I have a task for you, a trial, so to speak. That is, of course, assuming you’re still interested in my job?”_

Hall smiled smugly and cracked her knuckles. “Lay it on me, honey,” she replied, letting her southern drawl emphasize her enthusiasm.

_“I have someone I need taken out quickly and quietly tonight. No guns, explosives, or traceable toxins.”_

She leaned back and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why do you want me to do it? Surely you have your own assets.”

_“Because I’d rather have you do it. The target is another OMNI agent I interact with regularly. She can’t know it’s coming, and I can’t be implicated or investigated within OMNI in any way. Do it like you’re protecting the President from yet another scandal. Believe me, it happens.”_

“This is a trick, right?” Hall asked expectantly “You get me to operate in your territory and kill one of your agents, then you report me and have me killed?”

There was a pause. _“If I were tricking you, which I’m not, how would asking me help?”_

Hall hummed amusedly. “Okay, who is this person and why are they getting killed?”

_“0533, Alyssa Hames. She’s leaked important information to federal agents. Sending you her profile now.”_

The profile came up and listed known numbers and addresses. Hall checked her list of operatives she could contact in Washington, DC, then smiled and clicked back to the call. “One hour.”

NCIS

Gibbs checked the stairwell one last time to ensure that no one was coming, then went back into the dimly lit morgue. Ducky, Ziva, Tony, Abby, and McGee were already huddled around an empty autopsy table when Gibbs joined them, looking at McGee’s phone which was placed in the center of the table. They looked uneasily at each other, then back to the phone like it was a bomb that could explode at any moment.

“So a picture deactivates the virus?” Tony asked in a hushed voice.

“It’s not just a picture,” McGee explained. “Digital images can have encoded data. This probably contained a re-written part of the virus’ source code. Once the phone processed it, whatever data was in there must’ve tripped the tracker and wiped the phone clean of it. I imagine she did the same thing with my computer at home, but I haven’t been there yet. Supposedly it will be clear of the virus too.”

“As long as you don’t update it,” Abby added. “That means that they’re rolling this virus out with every update of the OS. They must have someone inside the company.”

Ziva chewed the tip of her nail as she thought of the situation. “What concerns me is this ‘Amber’ changing her mind. If she’s suddenly refusing our help, how can we be sure that hers is genuine?”

“She’s the mother,” Ducky replied. “She reacted emotionally and hesitantly to the test coming back positive. Mothers protecting their young are always much more defensive. It’s not surprising that her first instinct would be to manage her own escape knowing everything that she knows.”

Abby nodded. “And if she has access to the virus’ source code, she’s probably buried pretty deep inside OMNI, likely monitored like the others. She said she didn’t have time to give us the information about the auction, but she knew about it and knew we were looking for a government agent.”

Tony shook his head. “Yeah, but that doesn’t give us a warrant to start a witch hunt through the FBI by scanning people’s necks.”

“Abby, flashlights?” Gibbs asked.

Abby remembered and quickly slipped her backpack onto the table. She started pulling out hand-sized UV flashlights with small, rectangular orange screens fixed to the ends near the bulb. “Here, these are the ones from the lab. They’re a bit bigger than what OMNI uses, but they’ll help us check for the UV ink.”

Gibbs took one and looked up at McGee. “What leads have you found in your research?”

“Not much,” McGee admitted. “I’ve tried looking into Riley’s old case files and into anything current the Bureau has on OMNI, but there’s not much there. King’s case looking into his death didn’t even have any photos of the scene, just a half-assed description ruling it an accident. Tonight, I’m going to start looking into his team and see what they’ve been up to.”

“I’ll be there to help,” Abby offered.

“We have to legally obtain the evidence used to tie them to OMNI,” Gibbs reminded them. “You two work backwards from the FBI. Tony and Ziva will keep working on Marquez and Halstead. I’ll talk to Shepard and see what else she can pick up. I want a link by noon tomorrow.”

The team nodded and disbursed with Abby and McGee headed out to the lot and Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva going back to the bullpen. Abby shuddered and wrapped her arm around McGee’s as they walked.

“You okay?” McGee asked quietly.

Abby shook her head. “I used to love going outside at night. Now I actually have to worry about snipers. Ugh. It’s like Ari all over again.”

“I’ll keep the top up,” McGee replied as they reached his Porsche convertible.

Before he could protest, Abby already put one of her CD’s into the car radio and started blasting the music. McGee decided to let it go knowing she needed comfort, then started their drive home. Halfway there he thought he felt his phone buzzing. He pulled out his phone and saw a local number that he didn’t recognize. Abby looked over and shrugged at the number, then lowered the radio volume as McGee answered.

“Hello?”

_“Agent McGee?!”_ a woman’s frantic and frightened voice answered, unscrambled and unfiltered.

He shot a grave look at Abby then put it on speaker. “Yes, who’s this?”

_“It’s Alyssa,”_ she panted between sobs. _“Please, I need your help, I think… I think OMNI sent someone. They’re coming to kill me. I was followed. I’ve called for help, but I--- be--- in time-”_

Her call cut in and out with static, then the tone chimed in in McGee’s ear indicating the call dropped. He whipped the car onto the side of the road and screeched to a halt. He tried calling the number back.

An automated voice came on. _“The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”_

“Shit,” he swore, then dialed Tony’s office phone.

_“Probie, what’s up?”_

“Tony, quickly, run a check on this number and try to get me an address,” he read off the number on the screen.

_“Running. What happened?”_

“Alyssa from the data center called, she said someone’s trying to kill her.”

_“Ziva, get Gibbs and gear up. Trace is running, McGee.”_

Abby looked worriedly. “Do you think she could be Amber?”

“No idea. She said she called for help, but I don’t know what she meant. TONY!”

_“Just a second!”_ Tony shouted. _“Okay, Alyssa Hames, address: 3902 Lyndhaven Court. It’s a condo complex in Fairfax.”_

“Fairfax?” McGee repeated. “It’ll take us a half hour to get there.”

_“Drive by the Navy Yard and follow us in the sedan. We’ll light it up.”_ Tony clicked off the line.

McGee handed his phone to Abby and peeled the car around in the opposite direction, gunning the Porsche engine to life and racing back the way they came. Approaching the Navy Yard, he saw the fleet sedan pull out into the street and put on its sirens. McGee approached and kept in tight formation with the sedan. Abby tightened her seatbelt as the car rocked back and forth while weaving around traffic.

The building was a three-story brick building from the 1960’s divided into units. The second and third floors had concrete balconies while the first floor had a patio with a sliding door entrance. The two cars skidded to a halt in the middle of the court, and the team exited their vehicles with weapons drawn. They noticed a black sedan illegally parked just in front of the condo building.

“Abby!” Gibbs barked with a wave of his hand. “Back in the car and stay down!”

She nodded and curled up as low as she could in the front seat of the Porsche.

Tony studied the outside of the building. “She’s in apartment 202, up there!”

He pointed to a balcony on the second floor where a light was on in the apartment. Suddenly the light source moved downward, like a lamp being knocked to the floor with a loud thud.

“Move!” Gibbs roared, leading the team through the front door.

The team thundered through the door and up the stairs to the apartment. Gibbs didn’t knock before barging through the door into the living room, which showed signs of a struggle. As they entered, they heard the sound of a body being dropped and a scramble from the kitchen. Before they could spread out, a man in black clothes darted out from around a corner and body-slammed Gibbs, pushing against the others and knocking the group down.

A woman’s bloodcurdling voice screamed, “SOMEBODY HELP!”

The sound of a man yelling from the kitchen reverberated as McGee pushed Tony back up. The man who knocked Gibbs down landed a blow across his face before Ziva bolted up and slammed her hand into his neck. As he coughed and slouched back, Alyssa ran out from the kitchen holding a large knife but was soon tackled by taller man also in black gear with a bloody slice across his arm. He landed a punch to her abdomen and wrenched the knife from her hands. Tony lunged forward and pushed Alyssa’s attacker off of her and wrestled him to the floor as the other man deflected a kick from Ziva and whipped his elbow around into her face with a crunch. The taller assailant kicked Tony off of him and into the bedroom to try to separate him from the team for an easier kill.

McGee grabbed Alyssa and tried to pull her away into the kitchen for safety, but momentarily freed from Ziva’s attack, the shorter man swung his foot directly into McGee’s sternum which knocked him backwards into the doorway by the kitchen. The man swept up the knife and drew it back in preparation for a fatal slash to Alyssa, but the deafening bang of two shots and the ripping pain in his chest propelled him against the sliding balcony doors. Four more shots from Gibbs and Ziva’s drawn guns pierced the assailant and the glass of the left sliding door, which shattered as the man’s dying weight fell backwards against it.

McGee scrambled from the floor to the bedroom while Ziva checked the kitchen and pantry to ensure there were no other assailants. Gibbs watched in a daze from the floor as Alyssa unhooked something from the dead assassin’s belt, then with a quick fearful glance at Gibbs from behind her disheveled brown hair, she hurried out the shattered door and jumped from the balcony.

“Alyssa!” Ziva yelled as she emerged from the kitchen, then gave a look to Gibbs requesting permission.

“After her,” he wheezed as he stood back up and saw Ziva leap over the balcony railing.

The taller assassin slammed Tony against the bedroom wall and punched him across the face while holding a short, thick metal tube in his hand. Tony tried kicking sideways into the man’s knee, but the man heard McGee’s approach and locked Tony into a headlock before whipping him around to be a shield from McGee’s drawn gun. Tony wheezed for air and looked at McGee with eyes full of focus, anger, and fear.

“Let him go!” McGee yelled. “There’s no way out of this!”

“Wanna bet?” The man dryly dared before slamming his elbow against the window behind him, breaking the glass and sending pieces falling below.

McGee knew the attacker wouldn’t let Tony live. He looked between Tony’s legs and saw that one of the man’s legs was exposed. He quickly aimed and fired a round into the man’s shin. An agonized howl filled the room. Tony took the opportunity to jam his body back against his attacker and loosen the grip around his neck. He dove to the ground, leaving the man’s chest wide open where McGee fired three more rounds. The man’s stunned and pained face froze as he slowly slid down the wall with a stain of blood painting the wall behind him.

Tony hacked and coughed for breath on the floor by the bed, his lip bleeding and face cut. McGee dropped to the floor and helped him sit up against the bed.

“Tony!” He yelped worriedly. “Come on, breathe.”

Tony let out a long, pained groan and another cough. “Godsakes, McGee, this chick better be _way_ into you.”

McGee panted and sighed with relief, then looked to his left as the assassin left out a final breath and slouched forward. The man’s hand hit the ground, releasing the metal tube he held with a light clinking of metal. McGee’s eyes widened in horror when he realized what it was:

A military-grade high-explosive grenade.

“Tony! We gotta go, NOW!” he shouted and shoved Tony to his feet and ahead of him out the bedroom door. “GIBBS, ZIVA, GET OUT!!”

Blinding light shot out from the bedroom as the explosion shattered the walls. Both McGee and Tony were lifted off their feet by the force of the detonation. Tony was thrown forward while McGee slammed head-first into the balcony doorframe and down to the floor. The blow ripped through McGee’s head with the deafening blast of the explosion, and searing heat seemed to scorch his back as his vision blurred to darkness.


	27. Chapter 26

NCIS

The voices and lights flashed through the darkness in Tim’s head.

_“Blood pressure 110 over 75-”_

_“McGee, come on! Stay awake!”_

_“Adult male – multiple lacerations – concussion-”_

_“ – a pint of O-Negative blood and prep for O.R.”_

_“Oh god, Tim, I’m so sorry… Please forgive me…”_

The world spun, air rushed in his ears, and the searing heat and force of the explosion echoed in his sore muscles. He slowly gained his bearings and felt himself laying propped up on his right side with the distant sound of a heart monitor beeping slowly through the air. He heard quiet breathing and the creaking of a chair in the room around him. He felt cool air against tightness and warmth on his back. He tried to pry open his eyes but his head throbbed as the light reached them. He groaned quietly through the pain.

“Tim?” Gibbs low voice whispered.

Tim tried to open his eyes slowly. “Giss?” he slurred.

The chair scraped loudly against the floor as Gibbs slid it closer to the left side of the bed. “Hey, Tim. Relax, you’re ok.”

“’Splosion…”

“You’re hurt but it’s not bad, just a concussion and a few deep cuts on your back from some debris. They've already got you stitched up, so just relax and stay on your side.” Gibbs put his hand softly on Tim’s arm to soothe him.

“Alyssa?”

Gibbs shood his head. “Got away. Ziva couldn’t find her outside, but then the explosion happened. The police are still looking for her.”

Tim sighed as eyes adjusted to the light. He had a small scrape and a bruise on the side of his forehead from where his head hit the hard door frame, though he didn’t remember exactly what he hit. He remembered yelling at Tony, then a loud noise. The scrape stung but was somewhat drowned out by the rest of the pain in his head. His memory filled his ears with sirens and the sound of a softly sobbing voice, _‘Oh god, Tim, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me_ ,’ then both disappeared. He remembered cool skin on his face for a split second before it was gone again.

“Tony,” Tim breathed, “It’s not his fault.”

“He told me what happened – that you shot the killer, but he dropped a grenade. You saved him, Tim.”

“He was crying.”

Gibbs tilted his head to the side. “When?”

Tim tried to remember. There was a blurry face in his mind, but his vision was so dark he couldn’t see anything around it. He kept playing it back in his mind until he remembered hearing the heart monitor behind the sobs. “H-here. It was here.”

Gibbs blinked and frowned. “Tony hasn’t been here, Tim. He stayed at the scene. It’s just been me and the guard outside.” He gestured to a security officer standing outside.

Tim tried to think but his mind was fuzzy. “So… you were crying?”

Gibbs shook his head gently. “Wasn’t me. You were just dreaming.”

Tim shut his eyes as his head throbbed again. “Unh… head… hurts.”

Gibbs pressed the nurse call button on the bed and waited until the nurse came. She was a young woman whose face was lined with exhaustion from too many hectic work nights, but she gave the best smile that she could for 6 AM after a night shift.

“He’s coming around?” she asked, checking the monitors and Tim’s chart.

“Yeah, and with a bit of a headache,” Gibbs added.

She gently peeled up one of Tim’s eyelids and shone a small light into it for a moment. “Well, that’s to be expected with concussions. He’s due for his pain med for his back anyway, so just hold on for a few while I get it.”

“Also,” Gibbs stood up and lowered his voice, “he mentioned seeing someone here. Can you tell me everyone that had been in the room before I got here?”

She looked away for a moment while she remembered. Also with a lowered voice she replied, “Well, Jason’s been out there since Agent McGee was wheeled in here, I know Alex went in to check his vitals, and one of the new doctors came to check that the stitches were still holding.”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. “New doctor?”

“Yes, his badge said… hm… Doctor Matthews, I believe. He looked nervous as hell, but said it was his first operation under Doctor Tobin and he wanted to make sure a government agent didn’t have complications.”

“Describe him,” Gibbs asked with newfound urgency. Gibbs remembered the name ‘Matthews’ from Tim mentioning the character in his book and grew instantly suspicious.

She shrugged. “Shorter guy, dark hair, blue eyes, bit of a hunk if he didn’t look so tired. I’d never seen him before but I hope-”

Gibbs didn’t wait for her to continue. He quickly whisked out of the hospital room to the guard outside who was startled by his sudden appearance. He quickly flashed his badge and pointed to Tim’s room.

“Lock that room. That nurse delivers his medication and then no one else goes in until I get back. How do I get to the main Security office?”

The guard tried to quickly read the badge before stammering, “Uh- down those stairs at the end of the hall, then take a left until you see a reception desk. Security’s office is behind there.”

Gibbs was already walking backwards when he called, “Radio whoever’s in charge that I’m coming and to give me access to the cameras!” He spun around and sprinted down the hall while pulling out his cell phone. He quickly punched in Abby’s number and dialed.

_“Gibbs! Is Timmy ok?!”_ she shrieked from the phone.

“Yes, but I need you to get over here with an evidence kit now.”

_“I’m still waiting for Tony’s evidence from the scene-”_

“Now, Abby,” he grunted and closed the phone. “Have Ziva come with you.”

The Security Chief was waiting for him at the desk when he finally reached it. He was a larger man with dark skin and an almost bald head, but his stare left no doubt that he was in charge and knew what he was talking about.

“I need to run through your security tapes,” Gibbs said between breaths while holding up his badge.

The Chief nodded and gestured for him to follow. “Yes, Jason radioed me. I’m Grisham. What’s going on? What are we looking for?” He sat down in front of two large desks full of monitors and equipment.

Gibbs sat in the chair next to Grisham by the monitors. Looking at his watch he instructed, “Room 323. Start three hours ago and go slowly backward.”

They selected a camera positioned off to the side of the nurse’s desk, overlooking the ward. They rewound the tape to just before Gibbs arrived, then slowly rewound to see the previous activity. There was a long period of inactivity until they saw someone exit the room. They paused, then rewound even slower until the person entered. They inched towards the screen to look closer.

“Who is that?” Gibbs asked.

Grisham squinted his eyes. “Looks like an RN. They usually wear the dark blue scrubs like those.”

“The nurse said a doctor came in afterward. Play it from here.”

They watched as the tape progressed with no activity around McGee’s room. After a few minutes, Gibbs zoomed out and let his eyes wander to the surroundings. The attendant sat at her desk tapping on her computer. She leaned over to the side of her desk to place a folder in a bin and suddenly cut back to being upright at her desk. Gibbs’ eyes went wide. He waited for another few minutes until the attendant leaned over again, exactly as before, then then cut back to her original pose again.

“It’s looped,” Gibbs muttered. “They looped it just like before.”

“What the hell?” Grisham swore barely under his breath.

“Go back. We need to see where the loop starts.”

They scanned backward until after the RN left and played the same scene over and over until the nurse leaned over for the first time.

“There!” Gibbs pointed at the screen. “Now go back another few minutes and check the cameras for the surrounding hallways at this same time.”

There were two hallways that led away from that set of rooms. Gibbs looked at one set of monitors while the Chief looked at another. They repeated a segment of five minutes to check for any abnormalities.

Grisham spoke up, “Found something.”

He pointed to an intersection in the hall where someone slowly walked backwards into the intersection before the image cut out. All they could see of the person was their side and arm covered by a white lab coat.

Gibbs pointed at it. “That’s it, the nurse said it was a doctor. Where’s that hallway?”

The process of isolating only the looped feeds from the various cameras took time, but Grisham enlisted two more security personnel to assist with scanning the monitors. They didn’t get any look at the figure’s face, only the occasional leg or edge of the coat or arm again. They tracked the elusive figure to a stairwell where they lost it. After looking more closely, they picked up the trail of looped cameras on the second floor and followed it to a staff exit to the parking garage.

“Banks,” Grisham called, “Pull up badge access logs for that door for timestamp 02:47.”

One of the guards peeled off to run through one of the computers while they kept looking through the garage footage.

“I’ve got a car here,” the other guard, Daniels, called. “Pulls in then disappears.”

“Try to zoom in,” Gibbs instructed.

Banks called from his desk, “Badge access comes up as Robert Morinth.”

Grisham looked back at him. “The hospital director? I don’t think so. He wouldn’t be here this early in the morning unless the whole damn hospital was burning down.”

“It’s what the log says,” Banks replied.

Gibbs nodded. “They would’ve needed full access to get anywhere in the hospital. Freeze this here,” he pointed to where the car passed under a light in the garage just before disappearing. “Can you zoom in on that?”

The guard tapped on the keys and zoomed in on the car. Through the blurred image, Gibbs saw the driver with long brown hair and a pointed nose and chin.

“Alyssa,” Gibbs murmured under his breath. “Why would she be here?”

The passenger in the front wore the white lab coat that reflected the overhead garage light and had a slightly rounded jaw Gibbs thought he recognized.

Gibbs squinted his eyes and whispered to himself, “No…” He looked closer at the image as he slowly accepted what he was seeing. He recalled the nurse’s description and mumbled, “Dark hair, blue eyes… She worked for OMNI and could’ve gotten him out…” The possibilities flashed in his mind.

_FLASHBACK_

_The dark SUV smashed into Riley’s motorcycle and into the railing, pushing the riderless bike over the edge and crashing down on the riverbed. Riley sighed shakily in horror watching the destruction from the passenger seat of the other SUV, then nodded as they drove on._

_FLASHBACK_

“He could do it…”

_FLASHBACK_

_Riley was laying prone in a field with a deep blue eye focused through a sniper’s scope while Gibbs’ hand slid slowly under his shirt and up his back._

_“Keep focused… You need to fire your rifle…” Gibbs hissed into the man’s ear before kissing it gently._

_“True,” Riley slowly exhaled before pulling the trigger and hitting the practice target dead center._

_Years later, he looked through the scope of a suppressed assault rifle, hanging off the side of the parking garage while picking off Ridgeback bikers at their loading dock with rapid and lethal precision._

_He slid down the rope and approached the dock, then dragged the bodies of the OMNI agents into place along with the wounded Marquez. He dialed 9-1-1 from Marquez’s phone and dropped it next to his next victim, waited to hear a voice from the phone, then fired a shot into Marquez’s head at point-blank range._

_FLASHBACK_

“That’s why there are no pictures on his case file. Then she was found out and called him for help…” 

_FLASHBACK_

_“Please help me,” Alyssa sobbed over the phone. “I think someone’s coming to kill me!”_

_“I’m on my way!” Riley replied, flooring the gas pedal and bringing the engine to a roar. “Call NCIS! You can trust them, they’ll help you.”_

_FLASHBACK_

“He didn’t make it in time to stop them, but he picked her up after he saw the explosion. He couldn’t stay away knowing Tim was hurt…”

_FLASHBACK_

_Riley walked into the ward in doctor’s clothes, looking anxiously at each camera as he passed. He quickly waved at the nurse._

_“Just checking on his stitches,” he called while holding up his badge. “I’m Doctor Matthews, this is my first patient here, and I want to make sure he’s alright.”_

_The nurse gave him a thumbs up and returned to her computer while the guard gestured him inside._

_He slipped into Tim’s room. His eyes welled with tears as he saw Tim laying there asleep. He approached the bed and grabbed the rail to steady himself._

_“Oh god, Tim, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”_

_Riley wiped his eyes and stroked Tim’s cheek before turning and leaving._

_FLASHBACK_

He straightened up and looked at the Chief. “I need a copy of the looped feeds, anything showing part of that man. Also look for when that car left and see if we can pull any images from that.”

Grisham nodded at one of the others, who began making the copy. “You know who they are?”

“Maybe,” Gibbs lied.

He swiped the DVD from the guard and walked quickly back to Tim’s ward.

“You’re welcome!” Grisham called after him.

Gibbs sprinted up the stairs and back to the ward. He checked his watch, and it was nearly 7:30 AM. He shook out the strain from his eyes that came from a sleepless night and staring at computer screens for over an hour. When he reached the ward, he saw Abby bouncing anxiously on the balls of her feet with Ziva trailing behind her. She was still in the same clothes from yesterday, and while her eyes mimicked the same sleeplessness as Gibbs, she carried the evidence case in her hands as commanded.

“Gibbs, what’s going on?” she asked nervously.

Gibbs flashed his badge at the guard, who then unlocked the door. Before going in, Gibbs pulled her gently to the side and kept his voice low. “I need you to fingerprint the railing on the bed.”

“Ok, comparing to?”

He wanted to tell her that he thought he saw Riley and that he suspected he used the name of a character in Tim’s book to get past security, but he didn’t want to get any of their hopes up in case he was wrong.

“Abby…” he moaned tiredly, “just do it.”

She nodded and proceeded inside. Tim was fast asleep when they came in, and Abby decided not to wake him until after she had completed her printing. Gibbs sat and watched as she dusted the railing with fingerprinting powder while Ziva looked around the ward making her usual security self-checks. The bed had a short handle on each side of the top of Tim’s bed, one long rail on each side of the middle which also held the bed’s electronic controls, and one long rail across the end. She started with the railing on the top right part of Tim’s bed and worked clockwise around each section. When she got to the two sections on the left of the bed where Tim faced, she went back and tried to powder again in confusion.

“Gibbs,” she whispered to not wake Tim, “this side has nothing. The other three handles all had a bunch of prints, but this side’s been wiped down. Not just smudged, I mean wiped.”

Gibbs stood up and looked closely at the rails. “So, he was here.”

Abby looked worriedly at him while putting away the fingerprint samples. “Do you know who it was?”

He didn’t look up but simply muttered, “No.”

“What’s your gut telling you?”

He straightened up and walked slowly away from the bed. He couldn’t make sense of the situation. If Riley was alive and had actually come, why would he have used a partially recognizable name and not have left something more concrete to tell them he was alive? If he was alive, was OMNI helping to cover his tracks by looping the video? And if he was alive, who lied about finding his body?

Abby walked over to him and stood close by. “Gibbs, what’s wrong?”

He didn’t want to tell her because if he said it out loud, he would begin believing it, too. He also didn’t want to find out if Riley was alive in case he was the one who killed those people at the dock. If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t hesitate. He couldn’t bring himself to face that possibility, so he straightened up his face and turned around to Abby.

“We have work to do.”

NCIS

Hall sat confidently at her desk in the Dallas FBI office, sipping her coffee gleefully and twirling her smooth blonde hair in her fingers. Occasionally she looked at her phone and at those four little letters spelling “Done” that she received in a text message the previous night from her hitman. She checked Washington, DC news outlets for any news of a body being found or of any gruesome murder that may have taken place but couldn’t find anything. Having passed DC’s test, and being one step closer to her position, improved her mood better than a late-night Percocet. It would also prove her increased capability to Zero. She only wished she could kick DC out herself and take her place instead of simply being eased into it. She needed a hostile takeover to slake her ambition.

It had been an easy day at work and at 4 PM she contemplated leaving early. She was absent-mindedly checking her email when her screen froze. She sat up in attention and tapped a few keys before the screen went dark. Her eyebrow notched up as she reached down for the power button on her computer. Her screen suddenly lit up white with OMNI’s large power symbol in the center.

Hall’s eyes shot open in panic as she looked around, making sure no one was around to see what was on her screen. She heard the computer’s hard drive and fans spinning loudly as the computer was being run faster and faster, until finally it sputtered to a halt and shut off the screen. She didn’t wait to smell the faint puff of smoke coming from the overloaded computer before snatching her coat and bag and heading to the elevator.

Fear coursed through her as she tried to calmly walk like nothing was wrong. Somehow, someone was blowing her cover, and she had an idea of who it was.

“That _fucking-_ ” she hissed but abruptly paused as someone else entered the elevator with her. She fumed silently while thinking of DC’s smug face watching all of this happen.

She had an identity and funds waiting so she could disappear quietly, but she first needed to check her connection to OMNI to see if Zero had approved this. If not, it meant that DC was going off-books and trying to do a hostile takeover of her own, also meaning the DC’s “grooming” talk was a ploy. They did often think alike.

She breathed a little more easily as she exited the building and strode into the parking lot. She looked over her shoulder as she walked across but paused when she saw her car. Nothing looked amiss, but her nerves were on high alert and she’d seen too many movies involving car bombs. DC said that car bombs weren’t her style, but it would be ironic if that’s how she chose to dispatch Hall now. She slowly circled the car, looking inside to make sure no one was in the back seat and looking underneath to make sure there was nothing attached. Satisfied, she walked back around to get into the driver’s seat.

As she touched the handle, the door to the truck next to her slammed fast and hard into her, knocking her head into her car and letting her fall face-first to the concrete floor. She heard a rustling behind her as her assailant slid out of the truck, then a stabbing pain in her neck as something was injected into her. She pushed to stay awake but succumbed to the sedative.

Hall groaned as her muddled head tried to regain her senses. She had a four-star headache, her hands and feet were numb, her head rested on something hard, something was constricting around her neck, and she was sure she had duct tape over her mouth. She tried to roll onto her side but quickly stopped as she realized she was balanced on a ledge. She looked around and saw her black Mercedes parked in a space right in front of her, and realized she was on the top floor of a parking garage. She looked around for the FBI building thinking it was nearby, but the building she recognized was the office building where she secretly rented space for her OMNI dealings. She couldn’t fathom how anyone knew about it, even someone Zero would’ve sent. Then she remembered that DC asked for a meeting, which she drove to with her cell phone still on. She scoffed as she realized that DC must’ve activated the tracker, fully knowing Hall’s identity and everything else about her.

The sun shone uncomfortably bright in her blurry eyes and a light breeze carrying a strange odor swept across her face. She heard a hissing sound and saw a short-looking man dressed all-black in a cargo pants, a black leather jacket with blue stripes across the shoulders, leather gloves and a full-face motorcycle helmet crouched down and spraying paint on the floor of the garage. The man looked up at her. Even with the helmet, Hall could feel the cold from his look. He stood up and walked over to her.

Her eyes shot open when she saw the rest of what he painted, and she started hyperventilating. She didn’t want to be afraid, but she pieced together what was happening and couldn’t help it. That’s when she looked down at her hands and saw that they were bound with Ethernet cables, not zip-ties or handcuffs. She also saw a trail of several networking cables bundled together leading from around her neck to a concrete barrier. Her body shook and she felt warm wetness running down her leg. But she wouldn’t beg for her life. She refused. Whoever sent this killer wouldn’t get the satisfaction.

The man studied her, then pulled Hall’s phone out of his pocket and took a picture of her with it. After putting it away, he bent down to her face. Through the helmet, a firm and chilling voice growled, “This is for Tim and Abby, you _bitch_.”

He turned away and slid into the car, opening the trunk and retrieving a laptop bag from the front. He placed the laptop in the trunk and opened it, where he was greeted with OMNI’s startup screen.

_**PRE-BOOT AUTHORIZATION CHECK**_

_INSERT AUTHENTICATION KEY_

_PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE >_

He slipped a silver USB drive out from his pocket, plugged it in, and hit Enter. He turned and walked casually away without waiting for the screen to display the large OMNI power symbol.

_0MN1 OSv3.0_

_AUTENTICATION KEY VALIDATED_

_LOADING MOBILE BROADBAND MODULE CONFIGURATION…_

_MOBILE BROADBAND CONNECTION SECURED, PARSING LOCATION DATA FOR AUTHENTICATION…_

_WARNING: LOCATION PARAMETERS EXCEEDED_

_AUTHENTICATION FAILED_

_SELF-DESTRUCT COMMENCING_

Agent Hall didn’t see what the man was doing with the laptop in the trunk nor did she understand why the man was suddenly walking away instead of simply shooting her. His cryptic words left her puzzled as to who it possibly could be. But when she saw smoke and sparks erupting from the open trunk of her car, she realized what he had done. The laptop’s thermite mixture melted through the trunk down to the gas tank, igniting an explosion that tore through the car in a blazing fireball.

The explosion’s force knocked Agent Hall off the garage wall and down the side of the building. The cables caught around her neck and slammed her against the wall. She could feel the sharp pain of the taut cables pulling into her neck, her lungs on fire, her eyes watering, her head splitting, all for need of oxygen. She panicked and flailed her legs, trying desperately to save herself until her legs stopped moving and her arms fell limp behind her, her last breath stuck in her body by her strangled airways. Above her, the rear of the Mercedes lifted off the ground as fire, shrapnel, and glass shot out in all directions, raining down on a large OMNI power symbol painted in black on the garage floor. The man never looked back as he mounted a sport motorcycle and sped away from the blaze.

NCIS

Tim sat up in his hospital bed flipping through channels, hoping to find something interesting. He had been in the hospital for two days without being able to do any research or casework on what happened, and he was beginning to feel stir-crazy. He was worried about Jay even though Abby stayed at the apartment for the last two days to be with him, but more than anything he was worried that he’d lose the trail on OMNI if they didn’t find Alyssa. Gibbs wouldn’t tell him anything when he visited, only reminding him to rest. Tim did notice Gibbs looking hesitantly at him again, a way he hadn’t seen Gibbs look in a while. He didn’t know what to think about it, but hoped it wasn’t Gibbs developing feelings out of sympathy for his injuries. The stitches in his scalp from where he hit the door frame gave him enough of a headache that he didn’t need exacerbated by thinking about his prior feelings for Gibbs.

He tried keeping himself occupied by surfing the internet on his iPhone, but the glass screen had cracked when he fell on it after the explosion. Reunited with his iPhone with the tracker deactivated, he was able to surf through the few photos of Riley he had, but they looked more depressing with the screen cracks across them. He was finally promised that he would be released that Saturday, though he had to wait for the approval to clear and for someone to get him. He flipped to ZNN out of boredom as a news story broke. The weekend news anchor was a taller man with crew-cut hair and a wideset jaw.

_“Federal authorities are investigating the gruesome and public execution of FBI Agent Evelyn Hall. Police in Dallas, Texas responded to an explosion at a parking garage yesterday afternoon and found Hall hanged by the neck. Reporters were denied access to the scene after police confirmed the victim’s identity, but our own News Helicopter was able to capture the following footage. What you’re about to see may disturb you.”_

The feed cut to an overhead video of the top of the parking garage where an exploded car sat smoldering and soaked in water. Police officers were pulling a body over from the edge of the garage. The distance made it difficult for any details of the body to be seen, but what caught Tim’s attention was the large black OMNI standby symbol painted in black on the floor. His eyes went wide as he gingerly slid off the bed and walked closer to the TV, the back of his hospital gown opening and exposing the four sets of stitches on his back. He looked closely at the image. The black paint of the symbol was starting to run from the water that was used to extinguish the car, but he could tell for certain that it was meant for OMNI. The reporter continued his story as the feed cut back to him.

_“Authorities have yet to release any information about possible suspects, nor have they commented on the large symbol painted on the roof of the garage at the scene. While seemingly isolated, this incident is one of several acts of violence plaguing metropolitan Texas. Texas Governor Rick Perry requested the assistance of the National Guard late last night as extraordinary chaos and gang violence broke out overnight in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Between the cities, authorities reported no less than 20 drive-by shootings and 6 vehicle explosions across the four major cities, so far resulting in 30 reported injuries and 13 deaths in under 12 hours. Joining us live from our affiliate in Houston is Jenny Blake.”_

The screen split to show both reporters, the other being a sharp-looking woman looking rather uneasy against the backdrop of a busy intersection.

_“Yes, Andrew, it’s been quite a scary scene down here in Texas. You can even feel the tension as people walk by the heavily armed officers. Evening commuters and night workers were met by roaming packs of gang members and gunfire echoing for blocks. These same areas where crime has significantly declined over the last two years have suddenly erupted. Citizens and store owners today have been seen openly and prominently carrying their handguns as they go as a warning that they will fight back if provoked. Some have gone a step further to aid the National Guard by arming themselves with assault rifles and shotguns, standing by the barricades, and patrolling with the officers._

_“While many we’ve spoken to speculate that the unrest is the work of Al-Qaeda terrorists, others point to local gangs and drug rings as the cause for the destruction. One source who declined to be filmed claimed that a power struggle among rival crime syndicates sparked the numerous armed conflicts. There have been no new incidents in the last few hours, but Governor Perry has placed the cities and surrounding towns under a 9 PM curfew until further notice for continued safety. Back to you, Andrew.”_

_“Thank you, Jenny, and stay safe down there. More on the story as it develops, I’m Andrew Julius. Stay tuned for weather at 11.”_

“Knock knock, Probie!” Tony called from the doorway, startling Tim away from the TV.

Tim saw it was only Tony and sighed with relief. “Geez, Tony! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Tony grinned and strutted in carrying his backpack by the handle. His jaw was bruised and he had a scar on his lip where it had split, though he wore them proudly. “What’s got you all worked up? I thought you were bored with TV.”

Tim looked back up to the TV, but it had changed to a commercial. “A large OMNI symbol was found by the body of an FBI agent in Texas.”

“Ugh,” Tony groaned disgustedly. “What do you think it is, OMNI claiming responsibility or our suspect sending OMNI another message?”

“Message, for sure,” Tim replied, then looked back at the TV. “I wonder if we can get access to the scene and use it to link to our shooter.”

“The only thing we are doing is getting you into some clothes and getting you home to RELAX,” Tony reminded him.

He handed off the bag to Tim, who gratefully took it and pulled out a t-shirt and the brown leather jacket with the white stripe from Riley’s cabin. Tim squeezed it in his hand before looking up at Tony and nodding.

“Thank you. I swear, the doctor was talking about putting me in traction so I couldn’t get injured for at least a month.”

Tim turned to the bed to undo his hospital gown and put on the t-shirt. Tony saw the stitches where wood and steel shrapnel were blasted into Tim’s back, and he winced with guilt and nausea. He remembered seeing _his_ Probie lying motionless on the floor with bloodstains on his back and face. The Probie who shoved him out the door ahead and took the brunt of the blast for it. Tony remembered shaking him and yelling at him to wake up but with no response. He wanted to hug McGee but didn’t want to risk hurting him.

Tim grunted at the skin of his back stinging uncomfortably when he moved to put on his shirt and jeans. Thankfully, the contact of the shirt on his back didn’t sting much, so he finished by putting on the leather jacket. As he remembered, it fit snugly on him and didn’t seem to aggravate his injuries. Through the musty smell, he could still smell a bit of Riley on it, which made him smile. He turned to face Tony but was shocked to see tears welling in the man’s eyes.

“Hey… you okay?” Tim asked quietly.

Tony shook his head. “You saved my life the other day, Pro-” he paused, the corrected himself, “-Tim. I’ll never forget it. You did it twice in one minute, even, and getting blown up was what you got for it.”

“Tony, that wasn’t your fault.”

“No, I know it wasn’t, but still… you could’ve died,” Tony admitted. “This whole OMNI thing has been getting worse, and I know the first thing you’ll want to do when you get home is start digging into them again. But… I was hoping maybe just this once, you wouldn’t.”

Tim was stunned at what he was hearing. He blinked silently until he found his words, “Wha- what? Why?”

“I don’t mean stop investigating altogether,” Tony clarified, “I mean today, just today, take a breath and just _be_. I don’t want what happened to Riley to happen to you. And after what’s already happened to you, I want to know that you’ll be around for at least another day.”

Tim’s lips slowly stretched to a smile and warmth spread through him as he realized that Tony actually meant what he was saying. He chuckled and engulfed Tony a hug. Tony’s eyes were wide scanning Tim’s back for a possible safe spot for his arms as they hovered awkwardly around them. When he remembered where Tim’s stitches were, then he gently placed his arms around Tim’s shoulders. With no wince or objection from Tim, he relaxed and tightened his grip with a smile.

“My little _McSoldier_ is all grown up,” Tony lamented dramatically.

“Really, Tony?” Tim scoffed. _‘Back to normal already,’_ he thought to himself.

“I LOVE YOU!” Tony fake sobbed.

_*WHACK*_

“OW!” Tony yelped after feeing Tim’s hand smack him over the head. “What was that for?”

Tim grinned and pulled away. “Sorry, the concussion must’ve given me a reflex to bad acting.”

Tony’s jaw dropped, but clearly had a smile breaking through as they were walking out of the room. “You know, you’ve gotten so feisty lately and it’s ruining all my fun!”

NCIS

Abby smirked as she heard a strained, high-pitch whine at her feet. Jay’s yawn tended to have a bit of a whine when he was bored, and after he yawned, he curled up on the lab floor with a grunt as an indistinguishable mass of tan and black fur.

“You’re lucky Major Mass Spec is off-duty right now,” she chided him playfully. “He gets awfully jealous when he sees other co-workers slacking off.”

Jay looked up at her with one questioning eye, then dismissed her for a nap.

She chuckled to herself and loaded another fingerprint for analysis. While her first priority lately had been analysis of two crime scenes, the dock and Alyssa’s condo, she spent some of her spare time running fingerprints from the hospital. After finding parts of Tim’s hospital bed wiped of fingerprints, Gibbs told her about the looped video feed that was edited the same way as the video from the Manning case. She knew Gibbs suspected something even though he wouldn’t say until he was sure, though they both openly suspected OMNI’s involvement.

That night, they went through each corridor and doorway one-by-one, dusting any door handles that “Doctor Matthews” might have used along his way. She had the prints organized by location and correlated to the different times in the video where the suspect went by. She flagged every unknown print that came through, though most came back as hospital staff. She began with the door from the parking garage where the suspect first entered the hospital, and over the last two nights had made progress up to the door leading to the ward where Tim stayed. Normally with her undivided attention, two days would’ve seen the entire hospital dusted and run for prints. But between casework and breaks for taking Jay out, she was rather pre-occupied.

“Another unknown,” she mumbled as she wrote the approximate timestamp, location, and print number on the report and filed it away, then pulled out another. “Partial, right door handle, ward interior, left doors,” she continued absently to herself. She scanned it and began running it against the hospital staff, then with no immediate match she opened up the search parameters. Like the others that came back unknown, she knew it would probably take a while, so she started lining up another print to be scanned and run.

She did a quick once-around the lab to check emails and also refill Jay’s water bowl, then she heard the chime of a successful print match and happily headed back to the workstation. As she reached the other side of the workstation and saw the profile on the screen, she gasped and staggered back against the lab table. Her body trembled as she double-checked the print and ran it again. The same result came back, pulling up the same profile as the previous search. Her heart slammed in her chest and her breath was quick. She knew instantly what she had to do and kicked off from the workstation, flying towards the door with Jay barking and running behind her.

NCIS

Cassandra Vianne paced by the windows in her office. Her arms were folded across her sleeveless blouse which tucked into her skirt, while her heels lay kicked off to the side. She looked at her computer each time that she passed it, waiting for it to start making noise. She checked her watch and looked at the sunset, and as last-minute preparation she clicked a remote to lower the powered window blinds. As her office darkened, her computer chimed with an incoming call.

She flew into her chair and fitted her Bluetooth earpiece into her ear. “Sir.”

A familiar, generic male computerized voice replied, _“Status report.”_

“Operations normal. We confirmed Dallas was killed by Originals assets. Her accounts have been emptied and whoever the infiltrator was got her intel on the virus auction and the demonstration, including the target profiles, but we severed her connection to our servers before the platform or the virus could be compromised. Atlanta has proceeded with damage control in Dallas’ territory.”

_“Report Federal Agency status.”_

“I’ve convinced the FBI that she was targeted by one of the other buyers because we didn’t pick their target. It’s keeping them from investigating her further and from pulling out of the auction.”

There was a brief pause, then Zero’s icon lit back up. _“Parameters have been updated. Update all buyers: Auction date is now 05-13-2007.”_

“Hmm…” she hummed quietly to herself. _‘Zero’s moving it up a week… He must think the buyers will back out if anything else happens.’_ Out loud, she replied, “Understood. Platform update will commence immediately.”

The call ended with a black OMNI symbol lighting up the screen. Vianne opened the center drawer of her desk and slipped her hand inside. She felt past a few silver USB drives that were organized and labeled in the drawer until she found a drive that was taped to the top of the drawer, then she pulled it out to inspect it. She looked at it for a moment, smiled, then slipped into her heels, got up from her desk, and strolled to the elevator.


	28. Chapter 27

NCIS

“Have you had any trouble sleeping?”

McGee shrugged at the question as he thought of the last few nights of sleep. He sat in a square accent chair that felt like a cheap waiting room chair, though was probably not meant to be too comfortable. Across from him sat a Navy trauma therapist on staff for NCIS. After the explosion, McGee was required to see her before fully returning to duty. He didn’t see exactly why at first, considering he felt fine. It was a break from the usual Monday, but then he realized he hadn’t had a usual Monday for a little while. Two Mondays ago, he was broken up with Riley, extremely angry at Gibbs to the point of considering a transfer, then mauled by the dog that he would later adopt. By the next Monday, he had made up with Riley only to be told that he had been killed while Abby was nearly shot. Then he had begun covert research into OMNI infiltration in the FBI, and he was nearly killed in an explosion in the same week. Weighing all of it together, he decided that maybe a therapist wasn’t the worst idea.

“Not really,” he replied. “I’m starting to get used to sleeping on my stomach so there’s no pressure on my stitches.”

She scribbled a quick note on her notebook. “Do you remember any dreams you’ve had since then?”

He thought back. “Not that really stay with me. I sometimes remember some loud noises in my dreams like gunshots, but… I don’t know, it’s all blurred together. If it wakes me up, I see that I’m in bed and that it’s all over, and I relax back to sleep again.”

She nodded and scribbled again in her notes. “Do you dream of anything else?”

“Like what?”

“Like your late partner,” she clarified.

McGee stared at her silently. The weight in his chest increased slightly, though lately it did whenever he thought of Riley. No one had called him his ‘partner’ before, and it made McGee remember the first time he slept at Riley’s apartment and made their relationship official.

The therapist let the pause hang in the air for a moment, then continued, “It’s only been a week since you found out he died. Last week you went home twice for bereavement. How have you been dealing with that since?”

He didn’t know exactly what to say. He had put much of his mind into working and couldn’t grieve until OMNI had been brought to justice, but he couldn’t tell the therapist that. He also didn’t want to sound obsessed with his work or that he was in denial about Riley’s death. “I… I… I cried a lot when I found out. But since then, I found a jacket of his that he gave me to wear once, and… it’s just been a piece of him I can keep with me. It’s helped.”

“And the funeral?”

He shook his head. “There hasn’t been one yet. The case on his death only recently closed and they haven’t found any family to notify yet, so… I’m just waiting.”

She frowned. “So, you haven’t had an opportunity to get closure with his death? No sense of finality?”

He shrugged. “I’m giving it time, and I’m giving myself time. After I got out of the hospital, I went home, I walked my dog, watched a movie, and I even put the finishing touches on my book and sent it to my publisher. The book has a lot of him in it, and that being out there in the world will make people remember him.”

“And with all of that in motion, you feel you’re ready to return to work?”

“Yes,” he stated confidently.

“Why?”

He looked askance at her. “Because I feel fine. I feel back to normal, or at least normal enough.”

She made additional notes, then looked dubiously at him. “I’m glad you do, but I’m not sure you really are ‘back to normal.’”

McGee’s eyes widened, and he gulped as he awaited her reason.

She started reading from her list, hovering over each point with her pen. “A month ago, your arm was dislocated by a Marine your team was detaining. Not a week later, your other arm was bitten by a German Shepard high on cocaine. By themselves, they are minor injuries that I wouldn’t be worried about. But then your team was under FBI investigation where you yourself were interrogated for over an hour. That weekend, your partner was killed. Then almost immediately after returning from taking only two half-days off, you were in an explosion that hospitalized you again for two days, making it your third set of injuries and fourth trauma in one month alone. See the pattern here?”

He was stunned and his mouth hung open as he tried to come up with an explanation. “I.. yeah, so it’s been a hard month! But it’s not like any of those could’ve been prevented. The risk of those injuries is part of the job, and we get through it as a team.”

“It _has_ been a hard month,” she agreed, “and I intend to make sure the team gets through it. I’m not just concerned about _your_ recent experiences, but the whole team’s. I’ve already spoken with Agent DiNozzo, and… well if Agent Gibbs had shown up, I would’ve spoken with him, too. You were all injured in some way by that Marine, you and Agent DiNozzo were injured in that apartment, and Agents DiNozzo and Gibbs also knew Agent Mathis for quite some time. Frankly, the one I’m least concerned about is Officer David, but it wouldn’t seem fair to put the rest of you on Administrative Leave and leave her to fend for herself.”

McGee’s jaw hung further open. “A-Administrative Leave?”

She raised a hand to calm him. “Just for a week, fully paid, just to give you all some rest. Traumas and injuries take longer to heal when they’re stacked on top of each other, and your team as seen more than their fair share in the last month. Your team also has the highest case resolution rate of all the Major Crimes Response Teams. Your dedication is exceptional and admirable. Think of this as a reward, an extra week of paid vacation for all of your hard work. You all need it and deserve it.”

“I- But- We’re- We’re in the middle of a huge case!” he argued.

She nodded understandingly. “It’s okay, you won’t have to worry about it. Director Shepard can re-assign it to another unit. I’m forwarding my recommendation to her and to your team leader, Agent Gibbs. You all need rest, and it’s okay to need rest, Timothy.”

He kept shaking his head disbelievingly, then stood up and walked out of the office. He needed to talk to Gibbs and get this rectified. It seemed wrong and excessive, especially given the other things that happened to them. It wasn’t a slap on the wrist or intended as a punishment, and normally he wouldn’t argue with a free vacation, but this was in the middle of an important case and if anything was holding back his ability to get justice for Riley.

When he reached the bullpen, both Tony and Ziva were standing with their bags over their shoulders, looking at each other like they were waiting for something.

“Where’s Gibbs?” he asked hurriedly as he stormed past them.

Tony rolled his eyes and nodded upstairs. “He already knows. He’s dealing with it now.”

Upstairs, Gibbs burst through the door to Shepard’s office and let it slam behind him. Looking at her, he nearly shouted, “What the hell is this?!”

She looked unfazed at his brazen entrance and sat back coolly in her desk chair. “You know, emails must be getting through faster these days because I thought it would be another fifteen seconds before you barged through my door without an appointment.”

“You think this is funny?” Gibbs snarled. “Getting the shrink to pull my team out of your hair?”

Shepard rolled her eyes with a smile and took out her phone. Rather conspicuously on top of her desk, she took out the battery from the phone and raised her eyebrows to instruct him to do the same. He eyed her suspiciously and followed suit, leaving the pieces of his cell phone on top of her desk. She gestured for him to sit while she disconnected her desk phone as well, but when he remained standing, she continued anyway.

“OMNI has moved up the sale of the virus. It goes up for auction this Sunday. They know your team is investigating the shooting in the sprawl and want you shut down until afterward.”

He narrowed his eyes spitefully at her. “And you’re agreeing?”

“Not in the slightest,” she answered without hesitation. “I want your team full-time on clandestine ops to find them, using whatever means necessary to be ready to take them down as soon as that auction starts. The shrink was just the easiest way to get you all out of the house.”

“And working out of McGee’s apartment?” Gibbs scoffed sarcastically.

She didn’t appear amused. “Working out of your truck if you have to. What do you think the odds are that OMNI’s going to go dark the minute they get that minimum $300 Million? A lot of attention is on them right now and that makes right now our best shot. I’ve secured a warrant that will grant you access to any FBI files related to Agent Mathis’ team members.”

He studied her for a moment, noting the seriousness and emphasis in her voice. “I know why I want them taken down, but what about you? What are they holding over you?”

Shepard glared at him dangerously. “Nobody holds anything over me, Jethro, not even you. And just so we’re clear, if you think that you have something to use against me once OMNI is finished, you might find yourself wishing you had pulled that trigger back in Abby’s lab. What is it, _Rule Sixteen?_ ”

He chuckled dryly. “ _If someone thinks they have the upper hand, break it._ Once OMNI is finished, there won’t be anything to use, Jenny. You stick to your word, and I’ll stick to mine.”

“Then do your job, and I’ll do mine,” she countered.

Gibbs leaned over her desk and swept up the pieces of his phone without taking his eyes off her. Without reassembling them, he walked out the door and down to the bullpen where the other agents were waiting. By the look on Gibbs’ face, they instantly knew to huddle into the circle when he entered.

“Grab everything, and I mean _everything_ , you can on this case as well as equipment we can use away from here,” he ordered. “Then help Abby get whatever you can from her lab in case we need to analyze any evidence off-site. Meet at McGee’s when done. Go.”

“Wait,” McGee blurted out. The others stared at him until he finally continued, “It might be crazy, but I have a better idea.”

NCIS

McGee hesitantly slid the key into the doorknob and twisted, unlocking the door and extinguishing any hope of turning back. The door opened to the stillness of Riley’s apartment and the team slowly entered with McGee leading the way, barely breathing and very much regretting his idea. Light shone through the open windows and reflected off the white walls and ash wood-laminate floor. The furniture was exactly where McGee remembered, with the two black leather recliners and grey microfiber chaise sitting over a large, black rug. Nothing appeared to be disturbed, not even the books on the large shelves that were still the main source of color in the room.

Memories flashed painfully in McGee’s mind and he clenched his fists as he tried to hide it. Abby noticed and wordlessly placed her hand around his. He nodded gratefully and let their hands fold together as they quietly checked the bedroom. The bed was ruffled and casually untidy the way it usually was, though the desk looked like it had been gone through with the laptop missing and the drawers partially empty. McGee wasn’t sure what he expected to find, but with the apartment seeming to be empty he stepped back out into the living room and finally broke the silence.

“Looks clear. The FBI’s already been here and cleared out his computer and files.”

Gibbs nodded. “Start getting set up and make a list of anything else we need.” He opened the refrigerator and winced at its questionable contents.

Ziva set down a box of computer equipment on the island counter. “Good call, McGee. The FBI won’t be coming back, and OMNI won’t be looking for us here.”

Abby looked around. “I’m surprised the office gave us a key and let us in while all his stuff is still here.”

“That’s the power of a warrant and a wad of cash to let us stay,” Tony quipped as he put down another box and looked around. “This is nice.”

McGee grabbed the modem and router from the box and started connecting it to the cable connection behind the TV. He figured they’d be able to connect one of the computers to the TV for use as a large screen like in the bullpen. Ziva helped Gibbs move the desk from the bedroom into the living room while Tony and Abby brought in the rest of the computer and lab equipment. While Abby lamented not getting to bring her Mass Spectrometer, she had a few other tools that would help her process and compare evidence that she had also brought from the Evidence Locker. As Abby set herself up at the desk, Ziva began organizing the case folders by using large clips and pushpins to mount them to the wall. Tony turned on the lights and air conditioning, then drew the blackout curtains so no one would be able to see what they were doing inside.

Gibbs wandered quietly into the bedroom, studying their new surroundings and taking stock. McGee saw him and followed. Gibbs heard him but kept staring at the bed.

“I’ve never seen his apartment before,” Gibbs softly admitted. “We were usually in my basement building a boat or his cabinets.”

McGee felt a tinge of pride knowing that there was a part of his relationship with Riley that surpassed Riley’s history with Gibbs. He looked at the bed and remembered finding a gun the last time he was there. He walked over to the right side of the bed and felt between the mattress and the frame, though he didn’t find anything. “Dammit,” he swore. “He must’ve had it.”

Gibbs frowned and walked over. “What?”

McGee sat on the bed facing the closet. “His gun. He still had the .45 you gave him as a spare, and still carried it.”

The older agent huffed disappointedly, then sat down on the side of the bed next to McGee. “Tim… I’m not sure how to say this, but I wanted you to know before the rest of the team.”

He looked at Gibbs curiously, then attempted to brace himself for the unknown.

“We found a partial print at the hospital,” Gibbs began but paused, visibly struggling to admit the news. “It was a match for Riley Mathis.”

McGee’s stomach lurched and he froze. He stared at Gibbs and felt his face drain of color, not even noticing that he stopped breathing. He had been grappling with the turmoil of being in his dead boyfriend’s apartment, sitting on the bed where they had made love, all while trying to find his killers. The emptiness of the apartment was just beginning to bring the confirmation of Riley’s death, and now McGee felt his world starting to tilt again.

“W… Wha…” McGee struggled to determine what of the many questions flooded his mind.

Gibbs continued, “I saw the security feed from the hospital, and it was looped to cover his tracks the same way OMNI looped it before, but in the footage I think I saw him there dressed as a doctor the night you were admitted.” He paused to let it sink in. “You said someone was in your room and crying. The only people in your room was a nurse and someone calling themselves ‘Doctor Matthews,’ who isn’t your doctor. I think he came to see you, and he was the one crying.”

The belief clicked in McGee’s mind when he heard the name ‘Matthews.’ His world was turning upside-down and inside-out again, and his stomach wasn’t far behind. He lurched where he sat, then his brain quickly took over and bolted him over to the bathroom where he began heaving and vomiting into the toilet without even turning the lights on.

Gibbs rushed after him and flicked on the lights, then looked for a towel to help clean up after him. Tony, Ziva, and Abby heard the retching sounds and instantly became worried, but they each figured McGee’s trauma of coming back to the apartment would manifest itself in some way, so they stayed back and let Gibbs handle him.

McGee trembled as he tried to steady himself. He felt Gibbs’ strong hands holding him steady, but he shook him away. His eyes were puffing and dripping with tears of pain and horror. There was no comfort for what he just heard, no clothes that weren’t too warm or tight, no face or voice that was anything but too close. If Riley somehow was alive, then everything McGee had been going through for the last week was all for a lie. But what was worse, if Riley was alive, he was either being held by or working for OMNI, or both. His entire body felt clammy when the haunting thought came to him that OMNI could be using Tim as leverage against Riley.

“Please…” McGee begged. “No…”

“It’s okay, Tim,” Gibbs encouraged him. “We don’t know everything, but if it really is him…if he really is alive, we’ll find him and bring him home.”

“Gibbs?” Ziva called. “I think we’re set.”

Gibbs looked out to the empty bedroom and back to McGee, then called out, “In a minute.” He looked back with concern to McGee. He saw how pale McGee looked and wondered if he made a mistake telling him, but his recent experience taught him that _not_ communicating caused more harm than good when it came to the young agent. “I’m telling you because I didn’t want you blindsided when I tell the rest of the team.”

McGee still trembled on the floor. “W-w-what if it’s me? What if OMNI is threatening me to get to him?”

Gibbs paused, not sure if he could truthfully tell McGee that he didn’t think it was the case. “We’re going to find out the truth, I promise.”

McGee looked him in the eyes to determine his sincerity, then nodded while breathing slowly and deeply. He wasn’t sure if he did want to find the truth. He could only barely believe that Riley was alive, otherwise his mind and gut would start spinning with doubt again. He had to view it as just another case. After another deep breath, he convinced himself that all they had was evidence, and Riley wasn’t alive until they saw him with their own eyes.

“You ready?” Gibbs asked.

McGee nodded again and stood up, still looking pale from vomiting, but looking silently determined again.

Both Gibbs and McGee walked back out to the living room where the others were waiting. Abby gave McGee a supportive look, as did Tony and Ziva before turning to the main screen. The case folders were organized, the TV was connected to a computer linked into the NCIS network, the desk was ready with Abby’s lab computer and equipment, and Tony and Ziva had laptops set up at the kitchen table.

“Alright,” Gibbs called to round up the team. “Let’s start from square one and establish a timeline. First contact with OMNI?”

“Manning,” Tony began. “Met up with Riley and had his help, then ran into him again with Agent King, and arrested Nolovich as Manning’s killer.”

“Abby, I want a triple-check on Nolovich, make sure he’s still in prison,” Gibbs ordered. “Then the warehouse?”

“Where Marquez escaped,” Ziva continued, “but all the evidence from the scene went to the FBI.”

Abby raised her hand and squeaked, not normally present to contribute to the bullpen recaps. After a look and a nod from Gibbs, she added, “That’s also when Shepard found out that I was an Original, then started her own research into OMNI. Then she was contacted and had to put my name in as a potential target.”

Gibbs nodded. “Riley was, too, but he didn’t know it. Then the demonstration happened, and Riley was killed, or so we thought.”

Tony and Ziva looked at Gibbs curiously when he qualified the statement.

“Abby and I took fingerprints at the hospital after McGee remembered someone being in his room,” Gibbs explained. “We also found surveillance and got statements. The description and a partial print matches Riley Mathis.”

McGee shut his eyes and took a deep breath, trying hard to soothe his pounding head.

Tony’s eyes widened. “Riley’s alive?!” he nearly yelled. “You waited to tell us this?!”

Abby stepped in to clarify, “The strongest evidence we have is a partial print, but that has its own margin of error and could’ve been planted by OMNI to throw us off by investigating Riley instead of them. The rest is a generic witness description and a possible visual in a security video. Shepard saw him in the OMNI video of the crash.”

Gibbs nodded. “MTAC would’ve recorded that footage and archived it. Abby, get it and find any information from the vehicles or from the video itself that we can use.”

She saluted him confidently.

“Riley said his supervisor, which I guess was Agent King, told him to take a few extra days off leading into that weekend,” McGee noted, though only narrowly avoiding thinking of Riley personally instead of professionally. “Shepard told Abby to take a few days also to prepare for running. If King had given Riley a warning, he would’ve been able to hide but he didn’t. King is involved somehow.”

“I want you on King, McGee,” Gibbs commanded. “Check out whoever he reports to, too. I want to find out how thin King’s investigation into Riley’s death is and find any possibility of Riley actually being killed.”

McGee nodded. “Next in the timeline, we heard from Amber. Did we confirm that she was actually Alyssa?”

“She’s not,” Abby replied. “After the explosion, we decided to run the DNA from the urine sample even though Amber didn’t want us to, but nothing came up in any system. We picked up some DNA from Alyssa’s apartment and it didn’t match, either.”

“Then someone in OMNI is still trying to get out, and might’ve made it,” Gibbs deduced. “Then we had the shootout in the sprawl where we found Halsted dead, and then OMNI tried to kill Alyssa.”

Ziva huffed worriedly. “I think there’s something we’re not considering. Alyssa called McGee on his cell phone instead of calling the NCIS line. Could she have possibly been trying to lure us there to take out the whole team?”

“She knew more than she let on when we saw her at the data center,” McGee replied. “I gave her my card so she could call me. The way she looked at me made me think she recognized me somehow. I think if it was supposed to be a trap, OMNI would’ve just set off explosives at the condo. Those two assassins were not prepared to take out four armed agents.”

“We have her in the car in the hospital parking garage,” Abby added. “We could see more of her face in the security feed and confirmed it was her.”

Gibbs nodded. “Abby, when you’re done with the OMNI video, I want you on Alyssa. Find her.”

She nodded, adding it to her mental list.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “McGee, didn’t the director at the data center say she worked in FBI Cyber Crimes?”

McGee’s eyes widened. “She did. Cassandra Vianne. And if both Halsted and Alyssa were involved in OMNI, then it’s likely she is, too.”

“But if she’s Amber, she would’ve shown up in the DNA search as a former FBI agent,” Abby inferred. “Also, Ducky didn’t find a tattoo on the assassin Gibbs and Ziva shot. The other one got blown up, so we’ll never know. But my point is that we only think it was OMNI because Alyssa said so.”

“Ziva,” Gibbs nodded to her, “I want you on Vianne, check her background for any connection to Riley or King. Now we need link to the FBI agent killed in Dallas.”

Ziva nodded. “We need a copy of that video, too, so we can compare the two sites and find anything in common. The FBI probably hasn’t uploaded any documents about it yet.”

Gibbs agreed. “I’ll work on the assassin who tried to kill Abby, and I’ll check on that agent in Dallas.”

McGee kept feeling something tug at him whenever the word ‘Dallas’ was said. He looked back around the apartment and through the door at the bed.

_“Then a server was under attack in Dallas with OMNI’s signature all over it,”_ Riley’s exhausted voice echoed in McGee’s mind from his memory of their first breakfast together.

“Riley,” he breathed. “Gibbs, Riley went to Dallas when we were on the Manning case. He said he was fending off an OMNI attack on the FBI for three days.”

“Good,” Gibbs noted. “Everyone, to work.”

NCIS

There was very little talking at the apartment for hours as everyone was divided amongst their own tasks. The only times when anyone spoke was when Tony took Abby with him to the grocery store to get food for the team and when the team ate, but everyone quickly returned to focused silence while they worked. As the hours ticked by, the ambient noise became computer keyboards, sighs of frustration, and the occasional footsteps of someone moving or walking to the bathroom. Outside the blackout curtains, the afternoon faded into evening and night.

Networking cables snaked across the floor to the each of the seven computers they had set up, allowing each person to have shared network folders so they could easily pass documents to each other. McGee had set himself up with two laptops at the kitchen island, though he often found himself standing because the stool didn’t provide lumbar support. Tony and Ziva sat across from each other at the kitchen table while Abby and Gibbs shared the desk. Abby let Gibbs use the larger desktop computer since he was more accustomed to it while she remotely connected a laptop to her lab computer. The final computer sat on the large white entertainment stand and connected to the large TV.

“McGee,” Ziva called, breaking the silence.

He stepped over to her and lowered his voice like they were in a library. “What did you find?”

“Nothing, that’s the problem,” she griped. “There’s no file for Cassandra Vianne in the FBI’s database, and nothing in the index either.”

“So, she was lying?” McGee asked.

Tony looked from over his laptop. “No, but she missed a spot when cleaning up her history. Her IRS tax returns show that she worked for the FBI until mid-2003 when she started with Chronology. I never thought I’d actually thank the IRS one day…”

McGee ran the information through his mind again and remembered, “If she was in Cyber Crimes in 2003, then she was there while King was, too.”

He moved back over to his computer and started scrolling through King’s uploaded documents while Tony and Ziva walked over to either side of him to observe. It took him a while to get all the way back to 2003, then he had to start looking through individual documents.

“There!” he breathed excitedly and pointed to a document on the screen. “Just before she left, they worked on a case and he has her name hand-written in the report, so it wasn’t included in the index. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with OMNI, but it’s something.”

Tony slid his finger across the screen looking at evidence items. “McGee, send that to me. I want to check something.”

“It’s copying to your network folder,” McGee noted.

Ziva sat back down at her computer. “One case connecting King and Vianne isn’t much. We need something connecting them both to OMNI.”

“Working on it,” Tony called.

Gibbs noticed them starting to talk. “What do you have?”

“Almost there…” Tony replied. “And… I got it! That 2002 Chevy Suburban from the shootout at the docks matches the VIN on this case file with both King and Vianne from 2003. After the case was closed, it was signed out of evidence for release for impound sale by King, then was bought by Marquez’s company. We have our connection.”

McGee thought back to the warehouse raid and the evidence kept by the FBI. “Well, if he signed out evidence, let’s see what else he’s signed out.” He scrolled back up to the paperwork from the recent warehouse raid and spent a few minutes sorting through. “We got him! The server equipment from the warehouse raid two months ago was claimed as stolen while being shipped from the wholesaler to the buyer. Once the case was closed by King’s team, it stayed in holding until ten days ago when he authorized it for release to the buyers, Chronology Data Center, care of Cassandra Vianne.”

Gibbs nodded. “Put it up on the screen.”

McGee grimaced tepidly as their current setup didn’t make it as easy to simply display files from the separate computers on a screen like they would in the bullpen. He went to the laptop connected to the network folders of the various laptops. He was keenly aware of Gibbs watching him and waiting longer than usual, though Gibbs didn’t say anything. Finally, all the documents lined up on the TV. The team gathered in the center of the living room to view the screen while McGee sat on the floor controlling the laptop.

“Alright,” McGee began, “We have several items circumstantially connecting both King and Vianne to OMNI, but nothing they’ve done so far that is criminal. King signed out evidence that wound up with OMNI via Marquez, then he signed out OMNI-related equipment from the scene involving Marquez to a former co-worker, Vianne, whose files have mysteriously disappeared. King also closed the investigation on Riley’s murder by OMNI with almost no evidence in it, not even photographs of the scene or the body. There are signed records of transfer and receipt by the coroner, and a couple of statements from the rangers who found him, but nothing else. Vianne is connected to OMNI via Halsted and by Alyssa’s claims of who tried to kill her, and now she is also somehow missing from the FBI database.”

Tony crossed his arms. “It would take someone on the inside to remove FBI files thoroughly without raising an alarm. With King being in Cyber Crimes, he would know how to get around all of their defenses and not leave a trail. He could be separating himself from Vianne in case she’s next on the hit list. First Halsted, then Alyssa, then her? Even that other agent killed in Dallas, Agent Hall?”

“It’s too inconsistent,” Ziva observed. “Corporal Halsted and Agent Hall were killed outside and very publicly with a specific message for OMNI. Alyssa was meant to be killed quietly in her home.”

“What about the two assassins we already knew about before the ones at Alyssa’s?” Tony asked. “Nolovich and Abby’s assassin?”

Abby shook her head. “I checked four times, Nolovich is still in prison under the new identity we gave him,” she added confidently. “If OMNI knows about him, they haven’t bothered sending anyone there to kill him. And the guy who tried to kill me didn’t have anything on him but the gun and keys for a stolen car.”

McGee stared at King’s files. “King is one of two things - Option One: he’s under duress from OMNI, the same way Corporal Manning was, and that’s why he’s deleting Vianne’s files and sending equipment to OMNI. If Riley had been on his team for four years, it’s unlikely he would’ve willingly let Riley be killed, but he would’ve warned him in some way and he didn’t. If he’s not under duress, then Option Two: He’s willingly working for OMNI, deleting files and giving them equipment, and purposely offered Riley up to be killed so that the FBI would get a stab at the virus and Riley couldn’t investigate OMNI anymore.” McGee couldn’t deny he had a bitter taste in his mouth and a snarl growing on his face while contemplating the second option.

“Actually, I have REALLY good news about that,” Abby began and sat next to McGee. “Check this out – I got the recording from MTAC.”

She started playing the video from the beginning but fast-forwarded through the map opening and the profile information until the video feed came up showing the dashboard of the SUV and the fleeing motorcycle. McGee gasped when he saw Riley on the familiar motorcycle and wearing his favorite black leather and blue-striped jacket. His stomach rolled inside his gut and he thought he might be sick again, but he couldn’t look away.

“Watch,” she urged with anticipation.

The team watched without blinking as the headlights of the other SUV appeared at the other end of the bridge with the SUV and motorcycle speeding forward. Then before impact the SUV veered to the right and the camera feed cut to static, but the sound of the crash was still heard before crackling out to silence.

McGee was shaking while watching until he saw how quickly the SUV swung to the right before impact. His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.

Abby smiled. “See? The whole thing might’ve been staged. The camera shows them veering into the guardrail and doesn’t show Riley getting hit at all. Riley might _actually_ be alive! It would explain everything!”

McGee breathed shallowly and pressed his hand over his mouth in shock. _‘Gibbs was right, this might actually be real,’_ he thought to himself. He ran through it again, but the haunting thoughts hit him again. But before he could formulate the complete thoughts, Ziva completed them for him.

“If he survived that and didn’t contact McGee, then that can only mean OMNI has him,” she remarked with worry in her voice.

Abby held up a finger. “Or the Originals. If King wanted to work against OMNI, he could have contacts with the Originals to extract Riley while making it look like they killed him. That would explain the shoddy paperwork.”

Gibbs’ body tensed and he groaned under his breath mumbling, “Dammit, Riley…”

Tony darted his eyes to his superior with worried curiosity. “What?”

“Abby, bring up the reconstruction of the dock shooting scene,” Gibbs instructed her in a deadpan voice.

She clicked over to the remote connection program which took a moment to get through to her lab computer. She loaded her scene reconstruction program, then brought up the dock shooting. It showed the eight green figures and the red lines showing the bullet trajectories, all pointing back to the last green figure horizontally positioned on the outside of the wall. She looked back to Gibbs awaiting further orders.

“Can you figure out the height of the shooter from the data you have?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow and turned back to the computer. “Yeah, I think so. Let’s see, we know the boots are 9 ½ by the footprints, which add that height from the thickness of the sole, then we know the barrel length and likely weapon type, alley width, garage height…” she mumbled continuously to herself while she plugged in formulas into her program. “Alright, this is approximate with an inch or two of error, but we’re looking for someone between five-foot-six and five-foot-eight.”

Gibbs exhaled. “Riley Mathis is five-foot-seven, wears a size 9 ½ shoe, and has the sniper skills to take down eight targets from a distance with barely a full second between them.”

The whole room looked over at him in surprise. McGee couldn’t believe he heard what Gibbs was implying, but he remembered Riley telling him about training under Gibbs and Gibbs confirming how well he could shoot. But he couldn’t believe Riley would willingly kill that many people just because they were OMNI, especially after he privately voiced his regrets to McGee about how many people he killed while on-duty.

Tony also stared in disbelief. “How do you know that?”

“Because I taught him how to do it,” Gibbs replied.

“No,” McGee stated in defense. “No, Riley wouldn’t do this. He might fit the profile but there’s no way he would do this if he were still alive.”

Gibbs shook his head. “Maybe not normally, but he may not have a choice.”

“But if he’s the shooter, then he’s not being held by OMNI,” Ziva remarked. “The dock shooting was a message for OMNI, which means it’s from the Originals. And if he’s with the Originals and _still_ hasn’t reached out, then he’s under some kind of pressure from them.”

Abby frowned. “But if they are controlling him, why would they send him to the hospital to see McGee and cover his tracks? And if that was him there, then Alyssa drove him. If she’s an Original, that explains why OMNI was after her.”

McGee felt himself dizzying with all the questions forming, but he felt especially annoyed at the possibilities that were criminalizing Riley. “Look, all this is speculation. We don’t know that Riley’s even alive, and we don’t know where he is. But we know that King is connected somehow. Someone in the FBI has to be able to spend $300 Million on a tracking virus. King doesn’t have that kind of ability. Whatever he is, he’s not giving all the orders, but he is following them.” McGee turned in his seat on the floor to look back at Gibbs. “If OMNI is controlling him the way they controlled Manning, King could have a complete report on Riley’s death to use as insurance. We need to find him. If he’s under watch by OMNI, how can we go to him without raising alarms to OMNI? Should we go to Vianne instead?”

Gibbs shook his head. “We don’t have enough on her to bring her in if we find the tattoo, but he might just have enough with the equipment and connection to Riley’s death.” He paused for a moment, then looked down at McGee. “OMNI wanted us off-the-clock, so let’s pay him an off-the-clock visit. Make it personal. He never got back to you after Riley’s death about finding any family, and you want to know more.”

Even though it wasn’t constantly at the forefront of his mind, the subject of Riley’s death was still painful to McGee, and it made him feel uneasy to use it for their advantage even if somehow Riley really was still alive. The nausea in his stomach resurfaced for a moment, pasting an uncomfortable look on his face. Nonetheless, he reluctantly nodded in agreement and tried to force his discomfort into motivation.

“Amber said we’d find the OMNI tattoo on the back of his neck,” McGee remembered. “If we find that, we can officially bring him in for questioning. If we don’t find it and he is OMNI, what do we do?”

Gibbs looked warily at King’s profile on the screen. “He knows something, and that’s enough. Then it will be their move. Just remember, these people know how to manipulate. They’ll try to get you angry to get you off-balance. Don’t fall for it.”

“Let’s go,” McGee ordered the group with determination, standing and whipping up his gear bag.

Abby, Ziva, and Tony each looked with surprise at him giving an order, then towards Gibbs for confirmation.

Gibbs looked strangely at them. “You heard him. Grab your gear.”


	29. Chapter 28

NCIS

The drive from Riley’s apartment in Park View to Agent King’s home in Brookland, just to the northeast of Washington, DC, didn’t take long, especially since they were driving at 9 PM and they were all piled into one of the NCIS fleet sedans Shepard had loaned them for the assignment. They had all dressed out of uniform as they weren’t supposed to be on an official assignment. Gibbs was in one of his usual sweaters while McGee stayed in jeans, a button-down shirt, and a sport coat. McGee paid no mind to the time, preferring to know that King would be home rather than trying to find him at the Bureau the next day. He felt nervous at the idea of confronting King, but he wouldn’t be convinced of Riley actually being alive until he heard the truth from King. King lived in a brick duplex on a busy residential street across from a park.

Tony pulled the car off to the side of the road a block away from the house, where Ziva quickly stepped out and began walking with her full backpack around to the rear of the row of houses. They then parked in a space across from King’s duplex where McGee and Gibbs got out, leaving Tony and Abby in the front seats. Abby stayed still and slightly ducked down, her black coat zipped and with the hood up to try to hide her identity in the dark. Gibbs and McGee crossed the street cautiously and made note of lights on upstairs, then tapped the doorbell.

McGee tried to steady both his nerves and his breathing as he heard the creaking of wood and a light shuffling in the house. A loud motorcycle speeding by startled him, and he realized he needed to calm down in order to avoid suspicion from King. The light over the front door turned on as the wooden door opened behind the storm door. From the hallway light they saw the tall, bald man with the thick moustache that he recognized from their multiple encounters. Instead of the suit he had worn previously, he was in a baggy t-shirt and loose sweatpants. He stared down at them and frowned.

“Can I help you?” he asked in his gravelly, voice with a slight Brooklyn accent.

Despite McGee’s motivation, his words failed him as he remembered looking up at the intimidating man while being led to an interrogation room. Gibbs stepped in before the silence was prolonged.

“Special Agent King?” he asked.

The tall man looked back and forth between the two agents and the familiarity began to sink in. “Yes,” he replied simply.

“Agents Gibbs and McGee, NCIS. We want to talk to you about Riley Mathis.”

Both Gibbs and McGee watched for King’s reaction to hearing Riley’s name, but were both met with only an intrigued look.

King narrowed his eyes as he studied them and began nodding to himself. “Ah… I see. Yes, er, come in.” He opened the storm door and allowed them through.

McGee detected a waft of cigar smoke as they entered and studied their surroundings. There seemed to be a few artistic pieces dotted around the house, but no framed pictures or anything overly personal-looking, similar to Riley’s apartment. King led them to a front room with two couches facing each other across a coffee table, and he gestured to the one facing away from the front window. King flipped a pair of switches on the wall, lighting up the room with an overhead chandelier.

King sat across from them with a raised eyebrow. “You were Riley’s… boyfriend?” he asked tepidly.

“Yes,” McGee nodded, and his eyes dropped defeatedly to the ground by King’s feet. “I’m not here on anything official, but I… I never heard back about what happened to him. Nothing definitive, at least. Were you able to find any of his family?”

King blinked then nodded affirmatively. “Not as of yet, but we haven’t yet released the details of the case in case we need to relate it to any new forensic evidence. New cases involving OMNI have picked up, otherwise we would’ve contacted you. I know it’s frustrating and I can’t imagine your loss,” he placated with a practiced yet still slightly annoyed tone, “but we do need more time.”

“I-I know,” McGee acknowledged, “and thank you for everything, I just… I just wanted to know more about him and what might’ve happened. It just all seemed so strange.”

King nodded. “Well, as you can imagine, there’s only so much I can tell you since it involves other cases.”

“Of course, but… could you tell me more about _him_? I really only got to know him for a short time, and he said he’s been on your team for a while,” McGee urged, keeping a close but inconspicuous eye on King.

“Well,” King sighed, “He was a hard worker almost to a fault. He’d stay focused on a case until the end, ignoring other orders and not satisfied until all the pieces lined up. Stubborn, sometimes a little rash.” He looked up and saw McGee watching him and quickly added, “But in a good way. He could quickly judge a situation and acted on very well-tuned instincts.”

Gibbs continued looking around and found a landscape portrait on the opposite wall that he decided was a good distraction. He kept noticeably bringing his gaze back to it as McGee and King continued talking.

McGee threw on a smile as he remembered one of the few times Riley mentioned King. “I remember he once told me that his team wasn’t sure if they loved him or hated him, and that he seemed to have a knack for getting in trouble with you.”

King shifted uncomfortably in the couch. “Yeah, we occasionally butted heads, but I think we understood each other. It’s a shame he died when he did. He could’ve had a team of his own if he wanted.”

Gibbs stood up and stepped around McGee. “Excuse me, I’d just like to take a look at that picture.”

“Oh,” King watched him hesitantly. “Sure. Just something I picked up. I’m not one for art, but without stuff on the walls, the place looked like I had lost a divorce.”

Gibbs chuckled dryly and stood in front of the painting, though was actually watching the reflection in the clear plastic of the frame.

McGee smiled and tried refocusing the conversation. “A team of his own? I didn’t know he wanted to lead.”

King smiled, which McGee thought was at least partially genuine. “Yes, I don’t think he even knew that he wanted to, but he was a natural. Only problem was that he didn’t give any instruction or explanation to his peers and tended to leave the rest of us in the dark when he figured something out. I was going to be recommending him to get training for team leadership. It’s such a shame what happened with that car accident, though. Was there anything else I could answer for you?”

Gibbs took a few steps so when he looked at McGee, it was from behind King. He scratched his chin then asked, “McGee, what time do you have?”

Behind the house, Ziva had picked the lock to the basement and silently slipped inside, making her way to the circuit breaker. When she heard Gibbs’ phrase in her earpiece, she quickly threw all the circuits and shut off power to the house.

McGee pretended to be startled when he saw the lights go off.

“Damn,” King muttered in frustration. “Again?”

Gibbs moved quickly when the lights went out but heard the creaking of the couch and thought he might be too late. In the darkness, he pulled out a black flashlight from his coat pocket and switched it on, pointing it at King’s neck while he stood over him behind the couch. The glowing of the UV tattoo’s digits and clearly defined OMNI symbol sent Gibbs’ heart racing. King saw the purple light and bolted upright while spinning around to face Gibbs.

The lights flipped back on as Ziva threw the circuits again, lighting up the living room and revealing the enraged look on King’s face. Gibbs dropped the flashlight and drew his gun while McGee kicked up from the couch and drew his weapon as well.

Tony and Abby watched anxiously from across the street in the car, Tony’s hand on the key in the ignition and ready to get them speedily away.

“Don’t move!” Gibbs commanded.

King’s wide angry eyes studied the gun in Gibbs’ hand, and he listened for the sound of McGee moving aside behind him. His eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a small smile. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting some answers,” Gibbs replied. “Sit down.”

“And what kind of answers do you think you’ll get by coming into my house and drawing your weapons on me without provocation?” King asked confidently, raising his arms out to the side.

“You’re with OMNI,” McGee replied. “That’s provocation enough.”

King turned around and looked at McGee skeptically, then started chuckling. His chuckling increased into a raspy, blood-curdling laughter as he kept looking back and forth between the two agents with guns pointed at him. Between breaths, he began, “You-You see a tattoo on my neck and BOOM! Your guns are out, just like that? Boy, you guys really are federal investigators.”

“We know the OMNI tattoo and designations well,” Gibbs retorted. “We’ve found it on a good many bodies recently and I won’t hesitate to add you to the collection. 0-3-0-2, that’s a number I won’t be forgetting soon.”

“Oh no!” King mocked and flopped back on the couch, still grinning. “And what do you think that’ll get you?”

Gibbs circled alongside the couch so he could keep an eye on King while McGee stayed on the other side by the fireplace.

Gibbs continued, “Given your cavalier attitude, that tells me enough about your OMNI involvement to arrest you on suspicion of domestic terrorism. That’ll tie in nicely with your false report on the murder of Riley Mathis as well as your recent deletion of all data on your best buddy, former agent Cassandra Vianne.”

Vianne’s name formed a crack in King’s smug façade that he quickly tried to cover up, however Gibbs was already smiling having seen the reaction. McGee’s heart slammed in his chest, finally getting answers instead of just speculation. He kept his grip constant on his gun, keeping it trained on King’s torso and ready for any sudden moves.

King recovered some of his smug smile. “So, that’s all you have? Well, I certainly hope it was worth it.”

“We have you, so I’d say so,” McGee quipped. “What happened to Riley? The truth.”

“Heh, truth,” King chuckled. “The truth is that nothing you guys have on me will stick, and if you knew any real truth, then you’d know why. Sit down and drop your guns before you get hurt.”

Gibbs raised his gun slightly. “Is that a threat?”

King cackled again. “Crazy what the world has come to when the unarmed guy with two guns pointed at him gets to make the threats, right? Now, if you want to get anything useful out of me, _sit down_.”

NCIS

McGee cast a side glance at Gibbs, who looked concerned. Gibbs observed King for a moment, then looked over at the wall with the two light switches, then up to the single chandelier, then back to King. He scoffed when he understood.

“Which one of the switches was your silent alarm to OMNI?”

Amused, King snickered again and gestured to the couch. “Very good, Agent Gibbs.”

Gibbs looked back at McGee. “Close the curtains and keep an eye out. We don’t have much time.”

Tony heard the command through the radio and looked across the street through the window of the house. He clicked his radio’s microphone and whispered, _“McGee, keep a small opening in the curtains. We need to maintain a visual.”_

In the basement, Ziva positioned herself by the door outside to keep watch. _“Basement door covered,”_ she reported quietly. _“Phone and cable lines are now cut. No signal going in or out.”_

McGee nodded to Gibbs but replied for all of them, “Understood.” He looked out the window and hauntingly felt hidden eyes on him. It would normally send a chill up his spine, but something felt different in the way he thought they were being watched. He slipped the curtains shut, leaving just enough room for Tony and Abby to see him from the car.

King watched delightedly as McGee closed the curtains and Gibbs sat down, still with the gun drawn. “Well, since you’ve been so thorough in your investigations, I guess you’ve figured out what OMNI really is?”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes with contempt. “So far I’ve counted assassins, hackers, drug dealers, and sellout FBI agents. What have I missed?”

“Only as much as you’ve missed government-issued spies, network security companies, pharmaceutical empires, and federal administrations,” King replied with a smirk. “You think OMNI is made up of criminals who want to make money and watch the world burn. Know what the world is made of? People who do the same thing but under the rules of ‘the Law’ while watching from their ivory towers. OMNI is the government for the people who can’t know they’re being governed, the rebels. It’s the other face for the opportunist congressman who won’t be taken seriously until he accepts a bribe, the PR company for a CEO who prefers a grungy warehouse and a prostitute over a fancy skyscraper and a secretary.”

“Large-scale organized crime,” Gibbs clarified. “A cabal.”

King nodded, “With all the chaos that keeps punks, rebels, and criminals interested, but quietly organized into the same agenda from Uncle Sam’s sales pitch.”

McGee listened and decided to do whatever he could to get information, no matter what games King wanted to play. “You’re saying the FBI is controlling OMNI?”

“The FBI?” King scoffed. “NCIS has its own part to play in it, too, just like Homeland Security and the CIA. Crime naturally creates its own economy, including jobs of all types. OMNI remodels it to be sustainable and acts as a bridge to keep it interconnected with the ‘legal’ economy. Imagine what we can accomplish without the red tape: faster military action, arms trading at a fraction of the price, recruiting our enemies to unknowingly help us-”

McGee interrupted, “Buying tracking software we can’t legally develop?”

King smiled and nodded again.

“The auction,” Gibbs continued. “It’s a front for the government to launder money and quietly pick up a virus it can’t legally develop. But if that’s the case, why make each agency offer up someone to be killed?”

“Eh, hell if I know,” King admitted casually. “Vetting process, maybe? I’m not involved with the auction, I just know it’s happening. My job is just to know how to make use of people. Take you two, for example. Agent McGee, your relationship with an FBI agent facilitated the use of restricted computer equipment, and also resulted in the leaking of classified FBI documents regarding the murder of an arms dealer. Mathis certainly was useful to you, wasn’t he?”

McGee’s agent instincts couldn’t hold him back after hearing King even mention Riley’s name. “Don’t you _fucking DARE_ talk about Riley like that!” he shouted angrily. “He put his life on the line fighting against OMNI. He’s not a traitor like you!”

“ _Wasn’t_ a traitor,” King corrected. “Mathis always was a little loose when it came to rules, but _you_ got under his skin and made him toss the rulebook right out the window in order to impress you. That’s a skill you can put to very good use when you meet the right people, Agent McGee.”

McGee snarled, his blood beginning to boil and his knuckles turning white around the handle of his gun. He tried to calm himself down by remembering Gibbs’ warning.

_“These people know how to manipulate. They’ll try to get you angry to get you off-balance. Don’t fall for it.”_

McGee looked at Gibbs when hearing his voice in his head, and seeing the other agent still composed helped him be calm as well.

Abby whimpered in the car next to Tony. He turned to her and noticed her trembling.

“It’ll be alright, Abby,” he assured her. “Gibbs has it under control.”

She shook her head, not believing him.

Inside, King took notice of McGee’s reactions and continued, “If you want a traitor, look at Agent Gibbs. He murdered a man and convinced the Director of NCIS to cover it up, all to save Ms. Sciuto’s life. What else would he do for the same goal?”

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. “So that’s what this is. You’re trying to blackmail us into OMNI’s service.”

“Blackmail? You did all of those things without _needing_ to be blackmailed,” King clarified. “You already work for the government, and you’ve already helped OMNI by investigating it and tying off its loose ends. Now you’ll just have a few extra responsibilities. We’d rather you help with the same motivation you already have, but we’ll find additional motivation if we have to.”

“Hence the cavalry you called,” Gibbs noted.

King’s grin twisted sinisterly. “You and everyone you brought with you will leave here with a new badge under your skin just like mine, or you won’t leave at all. I’ve seen what the government will let slide in order to keep its project alive, and you ‘disappearing’ wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar.”

“And Riley?” McGee spat, still keeping up his angry demeanor. “Was his murder just a _blip_? Did you even try to warn him, or did you give OMNI his name yourself because he was onto you?”

“Mathis made his choices,” King huffed. “He could’ve been a valuable asset in the government’s work, but he was too damn self-righteous to see the value in what we are doing. All I did was trim the fat by putting up his name.”

Gibbs turned back to look at McGee, then raised an eyebrow and looked back to King with a smile. “Sounds like a confession to me.”

King shrugged. “Heh, you still think this is an interrogation. Let me spell it out for you: All I’ve done is participate in a government-sponsored operation. There’s no case here. The only parts of OMNI that agencies haven’t sanctioned are the mistakes, and they’ve been using you to clean those up.”

“Why else would we be here?” Gibbs smirked, stood up, holstered his gun, and pulled out his handcuffs.

McGee held his gun steady at his side, ready in case King decided to make a wrong move. King’s face turned from smug confidence to confused concern as Gibbs continued.

“Personally, I’ve seen enough OMNI mistakes to know I’d never use them for any job, much less do any work for them. We caught one clumsy assassin trying to kill a drug dealer, killed another assassin who wasn’t even following orders, killed two more who couldn’t even kill a girl in her own home, and then find you leaving a blatantly obvious trail that you are covering up Mathis’ murder and your involvement with the next OMNI in line, Cassandra Vianne.” Gibbs tauntingly dangled the cuffs in front of him while outright smiling at King. “You couldn’t even have Mathis properly killed. He’s still alive and hunting OMNI, and if you had done more than a half-assed job of your investigation, you’d know that.”

King rolled his eyes and huffed. “He’s dead. I identified the body myself. You can deny it all you want if it helps you sleep at night.”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “So you ID-ed him and yet you missed the OMNI tattoo on his wrist?”

King’s eyes widened and stared with surprise at Gibbs. With a little less certainty, he replied “Mathis didn’t have any tattoos.”

“Yes, he _does_ ,” McGee added with a happy, ‘told-you-so’ tune. His heart filled his chest with hope. “It’s on his back, but he keeps it covered up with makeup so it won’t show up on his file during an exam, which means you ID-ed the wrong body and Riley is still alive.”

Gibbs couldn’t keep the smile off his face, but it was slightly buried under the focus he held while observing King. “Looks like you’re another mistake the government won’t simply approve. You’re going to tell me who is representing the FBI in the auction and every single person involved in the creation of OMNI, and you’ll do it because NCIS is your only hope of getting out of this alive.”

McGee’s heart had barely pumped a full beat between Gibbs’ last word and King lunging off of the couch into Gibbs. King attempted to use his height to grapple Gibbs into position between himself and McGee, who quickly raised his gun but couldn’t get a safe shot on King. Gibbs landed short punches as he wrestled with King but struggled when he realized King was reaching for his gun. King flung his left arm around Gibbs’ neck and raised him up, freeing his other hand to unholster the gun from Gibbs’ belt.

“McGee!” Gibbs yelled hoarsely.

McGee knew he had only a fraction of a second, so he took the only shot he could find. Aiming too close to Gibbs’ chest for comfort, McGee fired two shots, filling the room with a resonant bang. The first shot missed King’s arm and shoulder, but the second hit King’s arm that was holding Gibbs. The bullet broke through his elbow at the tip and shattered the joint, snapping King’s arm outward and releasing Gibbs to come crashing down on the coffee table. King cried out in agony and stumbled back, then two sharp crunches signaled the piercing of glass as two bullets sped across the room into each of King’s shoulders, sending him thundering backwards over the back of the couch down to the floor.

Tony heard the gunfire from inside and bolted out of the car towards the house, screaming into this microphone, “Shots fired! I’m coming through the front! Abby, GO!”

Abby was nearly on Tony’s back as she jumped into the front seat of the car while he exited. She turned on the engine and sped off with the screeching of tires while Tony leapt up the stairs and into the house.

McGee rounded the couch as Gibbs scrambled off the floor and to his feet. McGee’s heart raced as he found King lying face-down on the floor, grunting in pain and wheezing. McGee kept his gun aimed and noticed King’s left hand was pinned under his body, the same hand which grabbed for the gun. He was startled when Tony barged in, even though he had heard Tony’s voice through the radio.

“Tony!” he gasped. “Where’s Abby?”

“She left when we heard the shots. That was the plan,” Tony replied sternly, his focus turning to King.

Blood poured from King’s arm and pooled on the floor. He gritted his teeth and looked up at McGee with rage.

“Don’t move!” McGee warned.

King groaned in pain as he tried to wriggle his arm free, though with both shoulders damaged, he could barely lift himself. In an agonized, guttural voice he growled, “You’re all fucking dead.”

McGee prepared for another rash move with a steady aim at King’s forehead but noticed instead that King was pushing his arm further underneath his body. He saw the tip of the gun by King’s neck, but then King dropped his head to the floor before a muffled pop shot a bullet through the top of King’s head, spraying blood and matter on the wall and on McGee. McGee and Tony recoiled in shock and horror. McGee became nauseous and began breathing shallowly as he took notice of the warm liquid that dotted his face, realizing what it was and what just happened.

NCIS

Ziva’s voice crackled through the radio, _“Gibbs, status!”_

“We’re here,” Gibbs panted. “King’s dead. He shot himself. Cut the lights and get up here.” Turning to Tony, he continued, “You shouldn’t have shot him from outside. Now the whole neighborhood knows there’s been a shooting here.”

Tony gave him a confused look just before the lights went out, leaving the only light coming through the window where two holes were now letting in air that fluttered apart the curtains. “What? I didn’t fire. I heard you and King struggling over the radio, then the two gunshots, then I came in. Abby took off like she was supposed to.”

Gibbs quickly looked at the window, then grabbed the two agents and shoved them into the foyer. Ziva came up from the basement with a flashlight lighting up the foyer floor and her gun drawn. She looked startled by their sudden appearance but was even more startled when Gibbs swiped the light from her hand and shut it off.

“Sniper,” he hissed to them.

McGee’s eyes widened as he looked to the window, keeping out of sight. Under his breath he asked, “How is that possible? The only thing across the street is a public park, and we’re right by a college campus. They’d have to be out in the open!”

“Suppressor,” Tony hauntingly whispered. “I didn’t hear any shots from outside. From all the way across the park, what are you willing to be that it’s the same sniper who killed Halstead and the others?”

Ziva nodded and reasoned, “If he shot King but not anyone else when he had the chance, then he’s definitely working for the Originals, not for OMNI.”

Gibbs’ phone vibrated in his pocket, and he quickly flipped it open and set the volume low. “Abby?” he asked quietly.

_“Gibbs, I just passed two black squad cars with sirens on heading your way. You’ve gotta get out of there!”_

He snapped the phone shut. “Ziva, where’s his car?”

“Out back,” she whispered. “It’s the silver Cadillac.”

“Gibbs, what about King?” McGee asked. “He shot himself with your gun! If we leave that here, the FBI will be looking for us.”

“They already are,” Gibbs growled. “They’re almost here. King called them when we got here, and Abby just passed them. You two grab King’s body and bring him down to the car,” he ordered McGee and Tony. “Ziva, look for McGee’s two shots on the far wall and mine on this wall. Try to extract the bullets. Everyone put on gloves.”

Each of the agents followed the instructions, slipping on gloves and switching on flashlights to light their ways. Gibbs kept the curtains drawn while the others worked, then systemically wiped every surface they may have touched and sprayed every bloodstain with ammonia to destroy the DNA evidence. Ziva quickly checked King for signs that the sniper’s shots had exited, but when she only saw the two exit wounds from the pistols, she began her rapid search. McGee and Tony grunted as they lifted King’s heavy body and carried it down the stairs to the basement. It was difficult to maneuver the large body into the trunk of his Cadillac CTS, especially without letting any of the neighbors see or hear the commotion. Ziva was successful in finding the three 9mm bullet holes in the living room walls and extracted the fragments with tweezers, putting them in a small evidence bag but not sealing it as they were in a hurry.

Gibbs wedged a dining chair underneath the door handle so the incoming agents would have a harder time getting in, then as Ziva exited the room, he tore down the curtains so that McGee’s fingerprints wouldn’t be found on the fabric. He could hear the sirens coming to the front of the house as he swiped up his gun, then rounded the basement stairs and ran out the door. He and Ziva jumped into the back seats while Tony began driving them down the alley behind the houses, quietly enough not to let the engine run too loud until they were a few houses away. McGee held the bar over the door as he watched behind them in the rear-view mirror, waiting for flashlights or headlights to come from between the houses and see them escaping. However, Tony made the turn onto a road leading away from the scene with no one from the house seeing them. He quickly accelerated and sped them a few blocks away.

The four agents seemed to exhale at once with relief, letting the tension in the car drop dramatically. Gibbs quickly flipped his phone open and called Abby while Ziva rearranged the backpack with their gear. McGee looked down into his lap and saw some red splatter still on him, sending a chill up his spine at the realization that he still had some blood on his face. He quickly flipped down the vanity mirror and started shakily rubbing at his face with the sleeve of his ruined sport coat.

Tony looked over at him, still feeling tense. “You okay, Tim?”

McGee shook his head and exhaled unevenly. “I’ve seen people get shot and I’ve had blood from corpses accidentally get on me, but this… Ugh… And he just shot himself instead of letting himself be arrested. And now we’ve stuffed him in the trunk like we… like _we_ killed him.”

“I know,” Tony agreed with a quiver in his voice. “That was a first for me, too. What’s the plan now, Gibbs?”

Gibbs mumbled into his phone, “We’ll meet you there, Abby,” and closed it. Looking to the two agents in the front, he replied, “Abby said the rendezvous point at the park is clear. Head there and we’ll map out a dump site.”

McGee looked back at Gibbs in surprise. “What about evidence? Don’t we need to bring his body to the morgue for the case?”

“This isn’t an investigation, McGee,” Gibbs reminded him. “This is a black op. If we do our jobs right, there won’t be evidence.”

McGee looked anxiously at Tony, who nodded with obvious mixed feelings as well. It wasn’t the first off-record assignment McGee had been on, but the first time that he would be intentionally burying evidence of this magnitude, especially given what was at stake against OMNI and reuniting with Riley. 

Ziva pulled out the bag of bullet fragments and handed it to Gibbs. There was some blood smeared in the bag from the bullets that met their target. “I got all the fragments I could. The sniper rounds never exited King’s body. Do you think Abby will be able to extract them in the dark?”

“She’ll have to,” Gibbs replied. “We have to know if we’re dealing with the same shooter from the dock. Whoever it was tried to kill King, and probably thinks they succeeded.”

They drove past several large warehouses and shipping hubs that paralleled the railroad tracks until they reached the end of the road, an abandoned brick building with a parking lot used as a “Park ‘n’ Ride” for city commuters to meet and travel together. The lot sat next to the railroad tracks and had unpaved service roads off the far side that led under the nearby overpasses of the expressway. Tony drove a short way down the service road until they saw the Abby in the NCIS Dodge Charger parked next to the concrete pillars of the overpass. He quickly looked to make sure they were out of sight, then parked closely behind Abby and popped the trunk.

Abby stood bundled up in her black coat, trembling more from nerves than the slight cold. Even though the headlights faced her, she could just make out who was in which seat of the car. She pounced on Tony and latched onto him with a hug before he was even entirely out of the seat. “Oh my god! Are you guys okay? What happened?!”

Tony’s voice was strained and high-pitched from the tightness of Abby’s hug. “We’re fine, just a small problem.”

Abby sighed with relief, then turned to find McGee as he walked in front of the headlights to the trunk of the fleet sedan. The lights illuminated a large bloodstain on his sport coat, which caused Abby’s eyes to widen and her jaw to drop in horror. She covered her mouth with one hand and squealed while pointing at him with the other. McGee froze in surprise by her squeal, but when he realized she was looking at him and seeing the blood, he waved her off.

“It’s okay, Abby! It’s not mine,” he reassured her.

He turned back to the car as Gibbs filled her in on what happened inside. He felt chills as Gibbs recalled the experience, and he opened the trunk to retrieve a large evidence bag from one of the gear backpacks. Gladly, he pulled off the coat and shirt and stuffed it in the evidence bag, then checked and pants for any other stains. Satisfied, he put on an NCIS jacket and zipped it up.

“Gibbs, I…” Abby hesitated, “I don’t know. I have a couple of scalpels I swiped from the lab, but without an X-ray, I’ll have no idea where the bullets ended up. I don’t know if I can do it.”

He gave her a commanding stare. “I’m not asking. We need at least one bullet to match against the shooter. It’s not going to be pretty, but we need this done.”

She sighed exhaustedly, but then nodded. “Okay, then we need to work quickly before rigor mortis sets in. I need someone tall who can hold a light so I can see the wound clearly. Tony? McGee?”

Tony and McGee quickly looked at each other, each racing to find an excuse out of the task.

McGee was the first with a coherent excuse, “I still have blood on my pants, and I need to spray the car with ammonia so there’s no trace of us inside.” There wasn’t much, if anything, that he really needed to do, but he didn’t want to see more of the dead agent than he already had.

Defeated, Tony shot him a grumpy look and walked with Abby and Ziva to the trunk to examine the body. McGee grabbed the medical tools and gloves for Abby and handed them to her without daring to look into the trunk, but he saw a bloodied, limp hand that was enough to give him chills yet again. He grabbed the spray from Ziva’s gear bag that Gibbs had used in the house and sprayed all the seats and the carpets inside King’s car, all the while hearing Abby’s indecisive humming and muttering to the others as she probed the wounds for the bullet.

McGee wasn’t feeling guilt over having shot King, knowing for certain that it wasn’t his shots that killed him. But he couldn’t help but be disturbed wondering if any of what King told them was the truth. King had seemed certain when spouting the conspiracy-like dealings of the government and seemed equally certain of Riley’s murder until it came to the question of the body being identified. McGee smiled again realizing that Riley was still alive, but the idea created more and more questions about where he was and what happened on that bridge. Then he had to wonder how he could possibly help Riley while working for – yet off the radar of – NCIS. The questions cycled in his mind, and he suddenly became aware of how tired he was now that he was coming off of the adrenaline rush of gunfire. After wiping the interior down, he returned to the fleet sedan where Gibbs was studying a map by the light of the headlights. McGee stood quietly, though after seeing the team surrounding the trunk and knowing what was still going on back there, an unsteady exhale escaped his lungs and caught Gibbs’ attention.

“You alright, McGee?” he asked quietly, looking up briefly.

McGee glanced at him then back to the others and shrugged. “I guess I just want to know that we’re still on the right side of this. I mean, we basically created a crime scene and tampered with it, then stuffed a dead body into the trunk, and now we’re doing an autopsy out of that trunk to extract a bullet before dumping the body somewhere.” He sighed again. “I’m just used to arresting those people, not _being_ them.”

To McGee’s surprise, Gibbs chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Well, if anything, that’s a good sign. If you’re lucky, you may never end up doing this again. Crossing this kind of boundary as part of the job makes a lasting impression, and the ones you have to watch out for are the ones who grow to like it. As long as you understand what you’re really doing and why you’re really doing it, you’ll know which side you’re on.”

McGee hummed as he absorbed the advice, feeling slightly better yet still exhausted. He knew he was doing it to take down OMNI and stop the murders and drug trades they created, and he knew he was doing it to help bring Riley home. He stepped forward to look at the map. “Thanks. What are you thinking of doing with the car?”

Gibbs pointed to a line on the map. “We’re here. These tracks run about a mile or so down to the Anacostia River. We can drive it alongside the tracks, roll it into the river while it’s dark, and try to avoid getting seen by a freight train while walking back.”

There was a confident “A-ha!” from Abby as she held the newly extracted bullet with her forceps up to the light. “5.56 for sure. Once we get it cleaned up, we’ll be able to match it to the others.”

Ziva held out the bag with the other bullet fragments and let the bullet drop inside.

“Good work,” Gibbs called. “Close up and make sure the trunk is tightly closed. McGee and I will drive it down to the river, then regroup back here. We’ll stay at the apartment tonight until we know if OMNI or the FBI’s onto us.”

Tony sighed disappointedly. “Too bad. The CTS is a _nice_ car, too.”

McGee snapped on another pair of gloves and tried touching as little as possible on the rough drive down the service road to the river. Gibbs stayed focused as they went, saying little except the occasional instruction. When they reached the river, the tracks crossed over a narrow bridge with tall metal walls on either side but had large gaps between the sections of trees and the bridge, leaving plenty of room for them to position the car close to the top of the hill down to the river. Gibbs rolled down all the windows, then had McGee assist with jamming small twigs into the door latches so the doors couldn’t close or seal properly, ensuring the car wouldn’t float for long if at all. After a quick once-around of the car, Gibbs got into the car without closing the door, shifted into drive, then slowly stood up without lifting his right foot from the brake until the last second. The Cadillac slowly drifted forward idly until McGee and Gibbs gave it a hard push. It crested the hill and trampled down over roots and uneven rocks as it sped up, finally splashing loudly into the river. It floated forward for a moment while water began flooding in through the doors, and it started shifting direction as it sank with the weight of the river flowing against it.

After waiting a few minutes and shining a flashlight over the water to ensure the car wasn’t visible, they turned around and began walking back to the parking lot in the dark. The sound of gravel and dirt crunching under their shoes and the ambient, wind-like sound of cars along the expressway were the only sounds heard. McGee looked up and saw stars in the clear sky as his watch signaled it was midnight. With the crisp air and light breeze on their short walk back from dumping a stolen car and a dead body, he surprised himself in feeling tranquil in that small moment of quiet walking. He mused quietly to himself, remembering how just that morning he was trying to convince a therapist that his life was returning to normal.


End file.
